Cruise control streamed live every Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Watch us live on Facebook and YouTube. Details are in this podcast episode information. This is cruise control. Control. You're on air. Automotive magazine with co-host Fred Staab and Les Jackson. Control everything you need to know about new and used cars in industry news. Well, fix or repair your car on the air. Fasten your seat belts and let us take the wheel. Your ride is about to begin because you're on cruise control.
Control And welcome to Cruise Control. You're on air. Automotive Magazine. It's that time again, a buckle up and head out on the highway to check out what's going on in the automotive industry. I'm Fred Staab. And my cohort in all of this is none other than Les Jackson. Yes, indeed. We are at it again and again. No shortage of stories. No. Never is. Never is. And we've got a great one coming up this hour. We're going to lead off with it. It's the J.D.
Power initial quality study, and it finds that last year was not too kind to manufacturers. We will have the results of the least and most problem plagued cars and trucks all new cars and trucks if you're heading out to buy one. Hey, it's good information to check out, right? Well, yes, especially if you're heading out to pay a premium over massage therapy. Yeah. Only to find out you're the model you're choosing. Yes. Oh, well. Well, hey, you know, it's pretty interesting.
You mention that because I was just looking for our next story about Hyundai switching up its 20, 23 lineup and they had five dealers on there. I think four out of the five were charging a $5,000 markup on the venue, which is now going to be their entry level vehicle. They were doing away with several sedans and they won't be making the cut plus they're going all in. They have an incredible electric vehicle. This thing is gorgeous.
The Ionic six, it's got a lot of aerodynamics, very much similar to what Mercedes did with their award winning Q x x. They're record holder IQ x x. You look at the two vehicles, they look very similar. We'll talk about that. If that means aerodynamics are going to dictate how all EVs look in the future, we'll kick that one around. They sure will. And over in the talking tech category, the we're going to talk about the government were like more after crash black box data.
Now there's not actually a black box in your car but the computers in your car will store do store all that data. Yeah and they're looking for more of it and then you're going to have an at the wheel review of a very compact vehicle and you have 250 super duty. Right? The yes. The super duty diesel. Mm hmm. And it is almost 21 feet long. Oh, wow. That was yes, that did you manage to take it to some super tight places so you could. I did.
As a matter of fact, I even took it to an underground garage wow. And they said, well, that's not going to fit. I said, no, it's 79 inches. You have 81 inches on your sign. It'll fit. You said, I'll make it fit. Yeah. All right. We'll have more when we come back on cruise control your on Air Automotive Magazine. We're just getting started, so stay tuned because we got plenty info coming up cruise control is your on air automotive magazine. Check us out at Cruise Control Radio.com Cruise Control.
Hey, welcome back to Cruise Control. This is your on Air Automotive Magazine. You know us. I'm blessed. He's for it. And as we teased at the beginning of the hour, J.D. Power, as they do every year, release their overall initial quality study of all the vehicles, all the manufacturers. And even though it has continually gotten better over the decades this past year, disappointing. Yeah, I think. I think that's the word. Yeah, it is.
And we're going to kind of look at how it was disappointing, what was where did they let people down? And also we'll kick around the ideas and we'll tell you what J.D. Power thinks. You're absolutely right, Les. It was compared to the 2021 results the industry experienced an 11% increase in problems per 100 vehicle or they call them pants 100. That's not good.
Yeah that is 18 peop 100 worse than last year resulting in industry average of 180 problems per 100 vehicles and that is a lower score which you know, a lower score typically represents higher vehicle quality.
So we have climbed here 18 more and there has been this trend towards improvement and General Motors kind of bucked the trend this year of the improvement going down and Buick was among the brands to have quality improvements improves 17 problems per 100 year over year making it the highest overall best quality from 12th place in 2021 big news for Buick right. Isn't that interesting now you would expect Cadillac and Chevrolet to be doing about the same but that's not the.
Case not the case not the case and then one of our favorite brands you and I think this brand has been kind of hitting it out of the park everything they bring out Genesis ranks highest among the premium brands of course, Genesis is the premium brand of Kia, Hyundai, and they've just been bringing out incredible vehicles, whether it's their big cars or their crossovers. I think that's a real standout, that brand.
Well, yeah, we've we have respected Genesis for a number of years for good reason because we test everything. And, you know, when you're when you drive these things, they're just better. Another interesting thing that came out of this study is that it's not just all new vehicles that are having problems or having more problems. It is the carryover models, too.
Now, typically, we would say like, OK, maybe avoid a new vehicle that's launching until they get it, as the Brits would say, properly sorted. But that seems like it's not the case. Right? Well, that's right. And normally from year to year, carry over vehicles get better and better and better. Yeah. I mean I mean, we know just from talking to people that there's hundreds of improvements every year.
Yeah. And unfortunately, because of supply chain problems and component problems with then component manufacturers are having problems themselves. So the components many of them are faulty. Right. And, you know, you don't see that most of the time in the industry, but boy. When it happens, it's not pretty. I mean, look at what happened to the Bolt. A great entry level electric vehicle decent range over 200 miles on certain models.
And because of LG Cam's batteries that caught fire when the vehicles were parked, you know who gets the bad rating? GM exactly. Yeah, exactly. I have a neighbor who has a new escape, Ford Escape. And in the past six months, she's had three alternators in it because they alternators are just faulty. Yeah, think about that. I mean, it's an alternator. This is not this is not as high and, you know, exotic part that they're just building for the first time.
So it's suppliers lowering their quality on this. But who has to carry the freight? Well, it's Ford because what are they going to do? Hey, I bought my new vehicle and it's got a bad alternator. I'm not going to go down to the part store and put one on myself right. Well, you better not because you avoid the warranty. This is so you know, it's a real problem. And of course, the alternator makers are relying on they're not chips, but they're transistors.
Yeah. Power transistors that are inside to make a voltage regulator. And those components are not being manufactured. Well well, we'll tell you more about this. JD Power initial quality study. There's some some surprises, some things that, well, maybe won't surprise you. So stay tuned to Cruise Control. I'm Fred Star he is less Jackson. We will be right back. Who's Control? And welcome back to Cruise Control. We're taking you on a ride around the automotive industry.
I'm Fred Stobbe. He is Les Jackson. Don't forget to check out our Facebook page, cruise control radio Facebook page. We told you about some cool stuff we have up there. I'd love it if you run over there and give us a like get a great YouTube page as well with plenty of videos. Les Jackson's detailed tour through his sock drawer. Yes, always exciting. That's always a plus.
But we've been talking about this JD Power initial quality study overall the results have found that there are a lot more problems with vehicles where the trend had been. The problems were decreasing problems per 100 vehicles. Here are some of the problematic areas, and some of them have been with us forever. When I say forever, the last five years or so, infotainment systems remain the most problematic area. It's interesting. An average of 45 problems per 100 vehicles less.
You just you know, you kind of think, well, heck, it's just a radio. But I mean it's about but. It's everything. Getting Android Auto or Apple CarPlay to work connecting Bluetooth Bluetooth not staying connected difficulties with touch screens and display. Apps systems are glitching up on people like they haven't in a number of years. And and here's one inconsistent audio volume I had that I was telling you during the break. I had a Mitsubishi Outlander where you would be listening to the radio.
You'd shut off the vehicle, you get back in, you turn it on, the volume knob is at the same position. You can't you can see, you know, on the level that it is up there, you can't hear anything, can't hear anything. So it's not muted. There's nothing you know, you check the mute button, unmute, unmute, shut the vehicle down, turn it on again, back to normal in that crazy.
And not only is it crazy and it's happening to to hundreds of thousands around the country, imagine what these things are going to be like when they get some age on them. Oh, yeah. It's going to be it's just. Not not a good thing to look forward to. The other area that creates problems are battery electric vehicles and plug in hybrids. Yeah. They create more problems than internal combustion engine vehicles. 175 problems per 100 for plug in hybrids.
239 problems per 100 and battery electric vehicles. Well 200. This is kind of funny because well. You know, this is two. Hundred and 39 problems per 100. That's not funny. Excluding Tesla, which has an average of 240 problems per 100, they had to separate them out because of Tesla's issues. And that's, that's, well kind of sad. Again, we've been talking about this for years and and it isn't changing. Tesla's build quality is just not up to par with the rest of the industry.
Yeah. And their response is they don't have a PR department. They don't loan out their vehicles to test. Yeah. They're just hiding. Yeah. Well, so Tesla, by the way, talking about this JD Power initial quality study was included for the first time and it had a score of 226 problems per 100. But Tesla does not allow J.D. Power access to owner information in the states that permission is required by law. So they remain ineligible for best of rewards.
Well so you know, let's, let's talk about some of the big results here and brand ranking Buick, number one, the most the best with the lowest number of initial quality problems per 100. Dodge Chevrolet Genesis. Well, you know, Chevrolet. Now, this is an indication and I know you're aware of it, that it's these it's these high volume models that tend to be reliable yeah. Because they make a lot of them. They worked out the bugs. These these are all above our industry.
Average you know, with lower problems per 100 vehicles, Kia, Lexus, GMC, Cadillac, OK, BMW, Ford, Lincoln, Nissan, many Toyota and Mazda below industry average, but slightly below it. The industry average was 180 problems per 100 vehicles Honda, Hyundai, RAM, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Subaru, Acura, Land Rover, Jeep. Porsche goes down the line the one with the most problems less is Christ.
Well Chrysler let let's do some of the lower lowest ones Audi with 239 problems per 100 Maserati 255 problems per 100 Volvo with 256 problems. That's a little bit of a surprise. Chrysler with 265 problems per 100 vehicles, Tesla with 226 and here's a weird outlier, Pollstar with 328. Well, electric. Yeah. Because we're running into a lot of problems with battery reliability battery not failure but. Reduce range things like.
Reduced range because they're some of the batteries are aging a little faster than they should. But but polestar the vehicles are all there within a few years right. I don't know. Yeah. And they came out but yeah, let's look at some of the highest quality models for initial quality the highest initial quality model less. And this is a change up from years gone by the Chevrolet Corvette. Now that's a huge surprise. That will go in the marketing information unit. At one time.
Corvette was had very low rankings mainly because they were bought, you know, as a high performance car and beaten to death. Hmm. But here you go. With a world class car. And then here's one. The key areas, highest quality, highest highest ranked was Hyundai accent. And then the key to Rio as well. They're in there in the top models. Interesting. We're going to do a story about the accent going away.
That's going to go away. Yeah. The highest ranked compact, sporty car, Mini Cooper, highest ranked small premium car, BMW two series, compact car, highest ranked Kiev Forte. But also good response. From Toyota Corolla and Nissan Sentra. We're going to be reviewing one of them a little later on in the show. Nissan Sentra, midsize car, highest ranked Chevy Malibu yes. They still make the Malibu. You don't hear anything about it. You don't hear a thing about it. But they still make it taste. Yeah.
Kya k five. Nice vehicle. I just had that Nissan Altima premium car was Genesis G. 70 midsize BMW five series Mercedes E-Class and the Genesis 81 in that segment large premium highest rank BMW seven series there's a lot lot of stuff going on in the seven series isn't it. Well there is man I never think of the seven series as being a reliable trouble free vehicle.
Now just quick on the SUV segments, highest rank Buick Encore G X and also in their Buick Encore and Ford Bronco Sport midsize was Lexus and Cadillac X T five upper midsize SUV, Toyota Forerunner, Kia, Telluride, GMC Acadia Compact SUV, Kia Sport, EJ big sales for their new model. Yeah. So it goes on and on. And on, but that is the JD Power UC initial quality study.
We hope some of that detail helps you when you're going out to buy a new vehicle when we come back, we're going to tell you about Hyundai and how they're switching up their lineup. So stay tuned to cruise control. We are live every Saturday at 10 a.m. Eastern. Watch us on Facebook and YouTube. Details are in this podcast episode information and cruise control. Welcome back to Cruise Control. As Fred mentioned before the break, we're going to switch over to Hyundai. Yep.
And let you know what they're going to be. What's their model lineup for? 20, 23 right now. I know it's only 20, 22. But some. This is the way it works. Some of the manufacturers already have shut off 20, 23 ordering and you have to order a 20, 24. What a strange time, huh. I never would have predicted it. Yeah, but it's here. Yeah. So Hyundai is a great brand you can't knock it accent. This is the best deal you can buy for a car right now. Like $16,000.
The person you won't be able to buy it for much longer. Yeah. Because they're not going to make it. Yeah. Actually they're going to discontinue the accent due to the expanded SUV lineup. They do say in this release though, sedans remain an important part of the lineup. And Hyundai continues to offer the Elantra and Sonata, even though we've heard they might drop the Sonata but here's a here's proof.
You don't need to spend a lot to get a good car, get a new car with modern safety features, modern amenities, right. Exactly. The accent proves that. Yeah. And it used to be like a funky little small car. Now it looks like a decent little sedan, you know. It's a you know, it's a capable, reasonable size. Super reliable. Yeah. Now, what is it being replaced with? Well, the entry level vehicle is going to be the venue, which I believe starts at $19,000 this is a front wheel drive only crossover.
I've actually asked to drive this many times, believe it or not. And sometimes you and I have a hard time getting these out of the fleet. They don't want to put them in because they're a basic car. But I always think it's important to drive things like this, especially for someone that's getting a new car, a first time new car, maybe they're getting it as a second commuter car. I think these things are great.
They look great. Look at the two tomb paint and I think it's important to drive those, you know, well, some of our other colleagues just want to drive supercars. I want to drive cars that people can that I can tell them about that they might be able to purchase and not spend all of their income on a car. Right. We yeah, people are a long time. Listeners certainly realize that we tend to review vehicles that everybody drives right.
You know, you know, it's great to get into a Lamborghini, but who do you know who has one? Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's it's more useful to be able to drive everything. And I always say that I drive everything from, you know, Bentley to the base skier and it's, it's good. But let's talk a little bit more about Hyundai's plans. They're going to be dropping the VA last year n as well due to the new and brand
model expansion into Elantra and Ancona. And so that's some of the changes that are going to be happening to the vehicles. We're also going to tell you about their iconic six, which is incredible. And we'll do that in a minute.
But just to run it down, Palisade is going to get some product enhancement Santa Fe and Tucson are carryover models, Kona very popular, vehicle available and internal combustion and electric is carry over Santa Cruz carry when you carry over the next two hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles a carry over model. I've never driven that I'd like to like to do that iconic five Elantra all carryovers. Most of them are carryovers.
They're just getting rid of now here's interesting the ionic HPV and P v so a hybrid electric vehicle and plug in hybrid electric vehicle are discontinued due to the significantly expanded electrified lineup with the Elantra Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Sanada Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Ionic five, Kona Electric, Tucson Hybrid Electric Vehicle and plug in Hybrid Vehicle and Nextto so we're going to talk about a little bit about what's going on in their Ionic lineup.
And it is the Ionic six look at this thing. This looks sort of like a Porsche in many ways. And it it also looks a lot like the Mercedes s x x x. If you look at that design, that sort of helmet, it looks like the racer helmet on a on a bicycle, you know, racer. I think this is a shape we're going to see a lot more of in vehicles. And you and I can talk about this, but it hitting the perfect aerodynamic dynamic number. Will that make will that make all vehicles look the same.
Well, if you've seen the ad for this on TV. I have not seen the ad for the it's. Very clever. Jason Bateman brings you through car history very quickly and into electric. And then he's driving that at the end of the commercial. It's very nicely done. And it's, you know, it catches your eye. They call it a streamliner. I'll listen to this cocoon like Cabin with comfort features. Single curved aerodynamic profile and carefully crafted contours give us the lowest drag coefficient of 0.21.
Wow, that's crazy. That's low for an actual car. Sustainable materials are applied throughout. And I tell you, it looks sort of like a Porsche in the back, doesn't it? It does. It's it's it's even got a little. Well, tail back there. Yeah, well, I know that's not big enough for. You know, I would need something up on. You. You insist on you know, pretty much a wing the size of a DC three. Look at the quality of this thing though. Yeah, it is. It is beautiful.
Of course, it's got the door handles very similar to the V6 that I'm driving. The Kia, the six there is eco process, leather seats, recycled pet fabric seats. I think PET is the water bottles. I believe a I. Think it is now. Bio tipo skin on the dashboard bio he ate fabric headliner bio paint derived from vegetable oils on the doors, recycled fishing net carpet. That's kind of cool. This cool you know, I don't know how many people will look for those things.
I just think it looks it looks expensive and it probably won't be as expensive as other cars that look that way, if you know what I mean. I love that old airliner in the back. I think that's a DC 74. Yeah, it probably. Yeah, it's one of the DC airplanes. Yeah. But beautiful vehicle. We don't have pricing on this. The full premiere will take place in July, but and we'll have we'll have updates on that. But it is just absolutely stunning right now.
I have not seen the commercial for it, but but I like it. It's a fun commercial. Yeah. The legacy of Tesla is the flat door handles, which I actually think is OK. Yeah, I like the ones on the V6 I'm driving now. The Kiev six, they were great. You walk up to the vehicle, they pop out for you to grab and then they retract back in. And I think that's pretty cool, but exciting long. As long as they'll do that in an ice storm. Well, that's true. That's true. But hey, let's talk a little tech.
The government is looking to get more data recorded by the so-called black box, which I guess relates to the black box in an aircraft when it crashes, which is not black, by the way. It is it's Orange International orange. So you can find it. But the government's looking to get more information recorded on these vehicles so they can use it for data.
As far as, you know, crash data, what happened especially when we're getting into autonomous driving at some point or semi-autonomous driving more of that. And they it's it's kind of interesting because they had some regulation for more than three years that was supposed to have been finalized by 20, 20. I don't think it did get finalized. No, they're. Believe it or not, there are political pressures here in Washington. Wow. I've heard I've heard of political pressures yeah.
Washington. Yeah, it happens. But the carmakers apparently in this case, according to this Reuters article, the carmakers were they kind of dropped the requirement because they were voluntarily doing this. They were going to include more things like vehicle speed crash forces at the moment of impact, whether the airbag deployed or if the brakes were applied so it's it's interesting. I mean, I think all of this is available. It came out of racing. There's a race pack computer.
I remember in drag racing that would basically record all of this. And this is where it's going. So I think this will happen. These sensors are there, accelerometer or everything there? Yeah. So we'll see more of it when we come back. Less is going to have a review of the F 250 super duty diesel so we're going trucking so stay tuned for cruise control is your on air automotive magazine check us out at cruise control radio.com. Cruise. Control.
Hey welcome back to cruise control it is time for another at the wheel review. And as we have said in the past, we drive what hopefully some or many of our listeners drive in this case I drove much to the dismay of my wife and neighbors a Ford F-150. If 250 heavy duty except a single rear wheel it's actually called the s r w mm single rear wheel duel. These you know was just too much icing on the cake. You did that. That's right. So this is a crew cab this is a crew cab.
I just want you to know how big this thing is because my driveway is 22 feet long. OK. So the threshold there, the truck is almost 21 feet now. So that was. And that's just for touching six foot. OK, so big. Cab wheelbase is 160 inches. Wow. The length without bumpers and stuff. Is 250 inches. Wow. 79 inches high, 80 inches wide. It's almost seven feet. Well the lowest ground clearance to the differentials is, is nine inches the truck weighs £6,050. Wow. And it can carry another 6000.
Five that's crazy. It can tow £20,000. Oh my goodness. This is a serious truck. It's so serious that you can't get the automatic running boards to come out. Right. To step in. No, you can't get those because you've got a big pull handle up on the dash on the end of the dash to to haul yourself here. Oh, wow. Which, by the way, several of my friends weren't thrilled about getting in. Did they need the step stool? They probably did. Yeah. Actually, at the step stool out there.
Yeah. OK, so this diesel, by the way, is, is a 475 horsepower diesel. Mm hmm. Wow. It's 6.7 liter power stroke. You're familiar with those D? Sure, for sure. Torque on a gas. Over a thousand foot four. 1050 foot tall. It's it all is directed through a ten speed automatic with Selectable Drive Modes, which are normal, slippery, tall, eco and deep sand. Does it have house mover mode like you can tell your house right off the foundation if you need.
I know, but in traffic I put it in traffic evasion mode and it just drives over all the cars. I gotcha bigfoot mode. It's just anyway some of it just a few technical details about it. It's a 240 amp alternator. Wow. So it has the biggest station. Yeah, the biggest. Yeah. Power take off in the bad power take offs inside you know 120 volts biggest four wheel disc brakes calipers you've ever seen advanced track roll stability trailer sway control. Wow. That's pretty cool. A 48 gallon gas tank fuel.
Tank fuel. That's right. It's not gas. It's you don't. Want to put gas in it. It's diesel fuel. It wants those ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. I bet that's expensive to fill up these days. Fortunately, I didn't fill it. Can. It came filled and and I drove it for a solid week. I drove it everywhere and it hardly came off full. A great, great mileage with it. But. Well, you know, the mileage isn't super great. Is it? In the twenties at least. It's 12 to 15 in the city and 18.
19, OK on the road but the mileage miles to empty gauge on the dash started with miles to empty 679 miles. Wow. So I could have, I could have driven to Boston without any problem on one tank. Wow. So radical. It's just it's really a remarkable piece of machinery. It has a stationary elevated, idle control. So I honestly don't know what that is. High, idle, like if you're doing an actual power take off or. Yeah, power take off.
Or if you're using a lot of electricity like police cars have that sometime because they need to keep keep the speed up to keep the battery topped off. Yeah and electronic shift on the fly transfer case which is pretty high tech and trailer tow camera system. No, this wasn't super optioned up so I'll get to the price eventually. But let me just tell you about driving this thing. So you get in and you're quite tired again. It's a workout. But the seats are super comfortable.
The visibility out is great. The dash is beautifully integrated with that nice screen that, you know, it's not sticking up in your face. Everything is where you want it. It doesn't feel super big inside, but it is it has power pedals. That's good. So if you're not fitting, the pedals will come to you, right? Kind of cool. Yeah, I like that. And you're you start the diesel, you don't hear it. Wow. It is just you could feel you could sort of hear a little. Rumble. Just not fussy about anything.
It's the quietest diesel I've ever heard. Wow. You drive off. There's no none of that. You know, diesel clacking. Clatter. Yeah, distance, none of that. You just drive off smoothly. It's shifting about every 2 seconds. Yep. Boom, boom. But it doesn't need to, you know, it's got so much power, and it the thing is quiet and smooth over any surface. You just cruise along very, very comfortable. It's something that you. You'd feel very relaxed after a long trip. Mm hmm.
Until you had to pay for the for the fuel in which case you'll have a car in a hurry. But I. I'm not a truck guy. I don't need a truck. Right. But if I needed something heavy duty for serious work, you know, and I had to tow you know, a small mountain. And that would. You know, I wouldn't hesitate to get one of these because it's it's a big brute. Yeah. But at the same time, it's this very gentle thing that, yeah, it's comfortable to be in.
I found when I had one, I had to drive it like a tractor trailer. I had to make the wide turns I had as I was off. I was making tight turns and. And honestly, it felt comfortable to drive. I enjoyed. It is just I wouldn't want to try to have to park it in the city. But you actually did that, right? I did it and it, you know, people looked at me, but I would said. You were and jonesin for the Corolla at that. Point. Oh, you know it. And the price. Not bad.
54,000 325. That's was 1595 delivery oh OK. Not bad these days I would say at 70. You know I, I honestly was surprised. Yeah I saw, I saw one with a regular cab and an eight foot bed. It almost looked like a custom vehicle. You just don't see that. You don't, you just don't see them less. Jackson thanks for that. 250 super duty review. Time for me to say I'm Fred Star. I'm less Jackson. We're going to see you down the road. All right.
Cruise control streamed live every Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Watch us live on Facebook and YouTube. Details are in this podcast episode information.