I wouldnt say capacitive touch and wired phone connectivity in a higher trim is top of the category. Thats what you use all the time so i think Mazda does that best.
These compact CUVs are the most common family car today. They should all offer enough room to accommodate modern, rear-facing child seats. Hopefully other brands 'get with the program' sooner rather than later.
Hey y'all! Thanks so much for answering my question. The Volvo is actually a 2015.5 😂 not early 2000s but the burns are accurate. I would look into the Subarus but I really despise the lifted ride height and CVTs -- plus no eyesight with the manual. The shortlist is Integra, GTI, and the Civic Si. Thanks for all your help!
Look at the Subaru BRZ which I am stunned they did not recommend. It is a six speed manual and a six speed automatic rear wheel drive (the transmissions are provided by Toyota, the engines and design are from Subaru). If you are set on Honda, get the proven Civic Si - a new car even from Honda these days won't be as great especially around the electronics - which some are brand new compared to the Civic Si.
I'd go Integra. If you're going to own it, the GTI is a great car to lease but I wouldn't want to be stuck with repair bills - I know from my family having a Jetta and Passat. The Civic Si is also very nice, but if you want the nicer features I think the Integra would be the better way to go.
Regarding the radio controls. The steering wheel controls (with some voice inputs) can turn the radio on/off, change channels, adjust volume, ect.. They are in-fact more convenient even on the previous model year as well.
@13:07 "Honda and Acura are not the slam dunk for reliability" interesting that its the same I heard on AlexOnAutos buying guide. Honda seems to be down on reliability. Without a doubt CR & everyone say Toyota and Lexus is the best bet for reliability eve for first year and Honda was almost there but now doesn't seems to be the case.
Honda has slipped from being a contemporary of Toyota to a step down. As an Odyssey owner, I'm fairly disappointed. They have had oil dilution issues with their small turbos and there was the very basic 2012 civic.
It only takes one model to have issues and your reliability as a brand drops off. Those new transmissions on the Odyssey killed them for a couple of years. Acura's issues have mostly been with infotainment, everyone hates it.
The problem I have with Toyota is the lower trims always feel cheap. You have to go for the higher trims to not get that feeling. You definitely get that you get what you pay for feeling.
Got my current Kia serviced yesterday at nearby Kia dealer. The dealer had virtually no new cars on lot. They had only a single 2023 Sportage, an SX stickered at $35K. But they added had some useless addons, which added a few thousand dollars to the price. But then they added a market adjustment sticker which took the price to $49K!!! Insane!
I would investigate more closely if you’re interested. HDA and the other adaptive features they show in trim comparisons represent what is essentially adaptive cruise+. If you research closely I think you’ll find they all come with what is standard adaptive cruise in other brands. They don’t want to tell you that because they want you to buy up a trim or two. I had the same concern when I bought my Tucson Hybrid. It has adaptive cruise and it’s good. In fact I found that the Hyundai/Kia driving assist is better than Toyota and Honda for my experience.
As your "first take" notes, the new Integra is being assembled exclusively in the Marysville, Ohio plant (MAP). In terms of first year reliability, one thing that is completely new with this Integra is the instrument panel. Completely new production equipment was installed at MAP to do this instrument panel, so that is one area that probably should be watched for possible reliability issues.
Pass on the Gas & PHEV, get the Hybrid. The Hybrid has a much quieter engine, more power, a bit over 100 miles more range. Only the LX Hybrid is FWD, EX & SX Prestige drop 5 MPG. Yes it may be difficult to get one especially at MSRP. PHEV is slow in EV mode & requires the engine to run the heater.
I have a 2023 Kia K5 EX and I learned to do my own maintenance on it, so far I’m at 24K miles and it has been over the line perfect compared with other cars I’ve had in the past
Hour the hvac / media controls, You can change the default or keep it at the least setting by holding the button down. At least in the EV 6. It made it more user friendly as I like it on the hvac setting as I can control the media via the steering wheel
Can you toggle the modes by pushing the same button, instead of actually hitting navigation for navigation and climate for climate? I've seen a few reviewers just hit climate over and over, and it still toggles between the two.
My 23 Sportage has been in the shop for 14 days. The dealership can’t figure out a clicking sound near the back. Also my AWD light randomly comes on. On top of that if someone sits in the back, the sensors pick up that all seats are occupied. Three recalls already. The vehicle has been a disaster so far. 🤦🏻
Good on you guys to call out over msrp rip off cars, more of this please. And people need to avoid those and manufacturers need to put measures around for dealers and stop stealing from consumers - they are all fully in on this.
I always thought the problem with the CTS-V wagons with manual transmissions was the price. Not that consumers didn't want wagons...or manuals. But when you make something that cost $63,000 in 2014, when the average new car transaction price that year was $32,000, you're just not going to get a lot of takers. That said, I'm not sure why the Buick Regal TourX didn't do better, as that was more reasonably priced. And as far as manuals, manufacturers if they are still making them, go ahead and put them in stripped down base models. If you could find one at MSRP, the Kia Forte GT is an interesting small car option coming "fully loaded" with great tech including dual climate control, heated and cooled seats...unless you want to row your own gears--no cooled seats for you! The Subaru Crosstrek finally addressed the one issue that bothered many, by giving it a more powerful engine in the Sport trim...which is not available with a manual transmission (irony alert; "Sport" model comes only with CVT). The last time Honda put a manual in their Accord, instead of putting the universally lauded Civic/Type R shifter in there, they put a manual in the car that made EVERY automotive journalist (noted fans of stick shifts) say, "get the automatic/get the hybrid; it's way better, this thing is not fun to shift." I think there's really a chicken/egg situation with cars...manufacturers put all the "love" into their SUVs and say, "see, no one wants a wagon/sedan? We're just giving consumers what they want." [cue evil wink/laugh in background]
In my area the markups seem to be less brand driven than whether the dealer has a no haggle policy or not. The no haggle/one-price approach is your best bet for staying at MSRP.
Hyundai/KIA are making leaps and bounds with their quality, innovations and designs; the market is reflecting that with paying a premium. Meanwhile, the Germans are overpriced from the start with arguably much worse packages. Hyundai/KIA are democratizing features and actually engineering practical vehicles instead of falling back on a dumb badge and reputation.
True and astute observation. Just got rid of my BMW X6 - so unreliable, and bought a top-of-the-line KIA Sportage. Packed full of features and a seven year warranty.
CR have been recommended brand new car like the Telluride , in its first year of production CR was heaping praise on this brand new model and recommending it .
WAIT! My neighbor just got one three days ago. It is the EX 2WD version, of your 4WD model. She paid $33,500 out the door. Yet your 4WD cost less? Something's not right. The same dealer tried to get her to take a 2020 Sportage a week ago at $33000. But I told her not to settle, that desperation feeds into dealer greed. So She held them off and got one as it was coming off the car carrier tractor trailer. So it still looks like she overpaid compared to what you guys bought. When you tell us prices does that include tax?
Being loosely associated with the ILX isn't a good thing. I have two friends (sisters) who bought ILX in 2017. One leased a blue base model and has since traded for a Crosstrek Sport. That one had a shock replaced and half the car repainted because it was peeling around the windows at less than two years old. The other had the same paint defect despite being a different color (black). That one had a fuel pump and TPMS sensor fail. She still has it because she bought instead of leasing and it isn't worth enough to trade for something better, even with how inflated usedcar prices are currently are it having almost everything option available at the time. Note: that one has less than half the miles of my 2015 Forester XT and my Forester hasn't had a single mechanical failure after 67k miles of hard use around my tree farm
Subaru Crosstrek for a recent college grad in comparison to the new Integra? She talks about a good back seat for kids. That is an odd choice considering the Integra back seat won't be anything to write home about. I don't think that is what he is looking for (back seat space). I was thinking the Subaru BRZ if they wanted to go with something proven as it is a sports car like the Acura Integra is going for.
Engine and Transmission Blew After 7 Months Bought a brand-new 2023 Kia SPORTAGE. My Sportage broke after 7 months. The car is covered under warranty, but my car has been at the dealer for over 16 days and the parts have not even been ordered yet. They gave me a tiny car that my mother and brother cannot even fit into. I asked to have my payment waved until the Sportage was fixed, but they told me they could not do anything. After explaining that they did not give me a comparable rental car they sent me to another member of customer service who told me they could not do anything. I spent two hours on the phone today and nothing was resolved. They keep telling me they don't know how long it will be until it's fixed. In the meantime, I am trying to move four hours away and am waiting on my Sportage to move my last items. I’m hoping that the t will be ready before my apartment lease ends, or I will need to spend more money out of pocket to rent a moving van. They keep blowing me off when I ask to be reimbursed for the tow truck. Be careful before considering a Kia. Their cars don’t seem to be built to last.
HI EMILY, QUINCE, AND "MOUNTAIN MAN" KEITH, HOW ARE YOU?? I LIKE THIS NEW 2023 ( 23? a little early, ain't it?? ) SPORTAGE. IT HAS A LOT OF NICE FEATURES FOR THAT PRICE!! BUT, I ALREADY HATE THE IDEA OF THAT SWITCHABLE CONTROL PANEL IN THE CENTER DASH!! I'M SURE THAT, NO MATTER WHAT CONTROL I NEED TO USE IMMEDIATELY WHEN I'M DRIVING, THAT I'M GUARANTEED TO BE ON THE WRONG "BAND"!! THIS COULD DEFINITELY BE A DEAL BREAKER PROBLEM!! OTHERWISE, A GOOD CAR; TOO BAD!! THANKS GUYS!! CHAS ORVIS, PLAINVILLE, CT.
Chas, I definitely agree with you. I am in the market for something like this Kia but maybe the hybrid version. I'd probably have to pass if it has this kind of deficiency. I passed on the Civic a few years back when they removed the volume knob and have not been interested in it since.
you KEEP doing it! You keep telling everybody these Palisade and Tellurides are blowing away everybody in sales and it is absolutely false! why? are you getting something on the side??? the Telluride sold ONLY 8,000 last month. the ford explorer sold 21,000!
All they said was the telluride breaks sales records… they never said it sells more. It’s the truth, since it came out the telluride has been at the top of the fastest selling cars list each month. Chill out
Reliability. My 2016, which is when they made a body change, has significant problems and I sold it within 4 months. Later on you guys actually discuss the issues from other Honda buyers, that I had experienced. By that time though I traded it in for 2016 sonata, which I've had absolutely no problems with.
You can set which is dominant. Climate or audio. It will always revert back. Press the button and hold it, to set Also, most commonly used climate controls are always there. Make audio dominant, and you're good.
Disagree about the safety (well maybe it is driver assistance) equipment. With most Hyundai/Kia models adaptive cruise control is only available on higher (or highest) trim levels. After driving a Subaru with eyesight, ACC is an absolutely essential feature on any new car I would buy. With it becoming standard on Mazda, Toyota, and Honda now, as well as Subaru, it is an inexcusable omission IMO to not make it standard equipment.
You have to look closely at the features. In the Hyundai Tucson (and I’m guessing Sportage is similar) they all come standard with adaptive cruise. The literature makes it sound like they don’t because they want you to upgrade to the highest trim which comes with essentially adaptive cruise+ which has additional info used from your gps navigation related to curves in the road.
Stirring the pot.....And Ed is acutually correct... but so is JP. When in doubt, look at the steering wheel, lower right button. and look for the button with a car icon and 2 lines behind it. Cars with Non Nav SCC will have this button, other cars have a rewind/back(?) button. Now, the brain diarrhea: The lowest gas-only Hyundai Tucson SE does not have SCC (the regular radar based adaptive cruise) and you have to go mid trim SEL and buy one of the packages. And yes, the trim compare literature for both Kia and Hyundai makes it read like you have to buy the higher trims to get the Navigation based driver assist system, to get ANY SCC/ACC. As far as I can tell, in US market, you have to buy the gas only Kia Sportage Mid trim SX with Prestige package in order to get the SCC non nav based thingie. To make things muddy clear, Tucson Hybrid, lowest trim called Blue, SCC IS standard. Whereas Sprtage Hybrids do no list the non Nav SCC at then lowest trim LX at all. Back to KIA's lowest 3 trim of the gas only: Does NOT mention SCC in Trim Compare tool at this time, no way to add the prestige package to any trim below sx...but that doesnt mean you can't add the Prestige package to LX and EX...right? any Kia/Hyundai salespeople or owner can correct me.
For most customers, I believe that the plug-in hybrid is a waste compared with a non-plugin version is a waste in that the extra battery weight degrade overall fuel mileage, especially if a home charging setup is out of the question. In the case of the Chrysler Pacifica, most customer would rather have the stow and go feature that the extra battery volume sacrifices for the marginal benefit of EV-only limited mileage.
That engine you’re talking about was only really available in America and Hyundai and Kia have good reliability scores in other countries… if you don’t know anything about cars you shouldn’t be talking…just a suggestion
I'm sorry, but there's no way that Kia and Hyundai would be something I'd consider. Have you not seen all of the reports about fires? There was a news report that even a Kia Soul that had been recalled and fixed by the dealer caught fire 6 months later. I love the look of Kia's but they obviously have a lot of things they need to sort out.
That's a LOT of "umm"s and "uhh"s and "ahh"s. I lost count after the first 100 or so. These "filler words" detract a great deal from the professionalism and believability. That's really too bad. Love the detailed information, but the middle (heavier, younger) presenter was simply awful. Bummer.
I think uh that uhm they should uh have uh people uhm who uhm can speak uhm intelligently uh and uh uh uhm who uh can uhm present uh uhm a video bet uh uhm better. Adults should be able to speak in complete, coherent sentences. Does anyone take pride in their jobs anymore?
KIA Garbage-KIA dealers always have a BS vehicle package that adds $4000 on top of the MSRP-nothing in that package they add on barely equals to about $500-shop elsewhere.
Nobody can buy a car with MSRP price nowadays, only you work as paid advertiser for KIA motors...................Hello CR shamed on you................................