Auto Buyers Guide Podcast

Nissan just showed up to the hybrid party — only about fifteen years late. But here’s the thing: the new Rogue Hybrid might actually be worth the wait. Three big electric motors, rear torque that would make a RAV4 blush, and a three-cylinder engine that exists purely to keep the electrons flowing. Is Nissan’s serial hybrid system genuinely clever engineering or an elaborate workaround? Meanwhile, Volvo quietly transformed the EX90 into a fire-breathing 670-horsepower rocket that does 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and adds 100 miles of range in five minutes — and almost nobody noticed, because Volvo tells nobody anything. GM unveiled two brand-new V8s big enough to make Ram nervous, and Tesla wants you to buy a Cybercab, deploy it as a robot taxi, and somehow turn a profit. Spoiler: the math doesn’t math.

Then it gets personal. Alex is car shopping — again — and the requirements are ruthlessly specific: CarPlay (non-negotiable, household law), a back seat that actually fits a rear-facing car seat designed for a seven-year-old, and preferably something that plugs in. What sounds like a reasonable list turns out to eliminate approximately everything good on the market. Along the way, the show falls down a genuinely fascinating rabbit hole: only 3% of new car buyers have young children at home, which explains — with uncomfortable precision — why modern cars are designed as if children don’t exist. More Subaru buyers have pet chickens.

 

 

Key Topics

Nissan Rogue Hybrid e-POWER — 40 city/36 highway MPG, three motors, 66% rear torque capability, no parallel mode

Why three-cylinder engines excel in serial hybrids — exhaust scavenging, turbo efficiency, the German “half-liter per cylinder” philosophy

Honda’s deliberate sacrifice of efficiency to preserve engine-feel continuity in their hybrids

Nissan’s 2 million e-POWER global sales and what that means for the US rollout

Volvo EX90 updated — 800V, 670hp, 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, 350kW peak charging, ~100 miles added in 5 minutes

EX90 Supercharger problem — drops to 112kW on 400V stations, 45-minute charge sessions

Volvo’s baffling product strategy — launching half-baked, fixing quietly, same model year with two drivetrains

EX90 vs. Lucid Gravity — charging speed, interior quality, plastic sun visors at $97K

GM’s new 5.7L and 6.6L V8 engines for Silverado/Sierra — cylinder deactivation, competing with Ram’s 6.4L

Tesla Cybercab business model holes — ROI, insurance, cleaning, platform cut, range management, fleet logistics

Cybercab format problem — two seats, no luggage space, no consumer version with a steering wheel

Alex’s new car hunt — CarPlay required, big rear seat, plug-in or EV, Super Cruise/autonomy trade-offs

Why Silverado EV almost made the list but no CarPlay killed it — and the aftermarket hack question

Wired vs. wireless CarPlay — lossless audio and Dolby Atmos need the wire; GM wants your data instead

Car seat statistics — only 3% of new car buyers have toddlers; more Subaru owners have chickens than babies

Car seat regulation history — California rear-facing mandate not until 2017, only half of US states require it

Axkid rear-facing car seat — works to 65 lbs/49 inches, fitting a 7-year-old rear-facing

Why pickup trucks may be winning with young families — rear seat room that crossovers and full-size SUVs don’t actually provide

Palisade vs. Tahoe for child seat practicality — why the midsize crossover wins

 

 

00:00:00 - Intro & What's On the Docket
00:00:59 - Nissan Rogue Hybrid: America's First Real Nissan Hybrid
00:04:11 - 3-Cylinder Serial Hybrid Engineering: Why It Actually Makes Sense
00:17:39 - Volvo EX90: 670hp, 800V & a 5-Minute Charge to LA
00:28:14 - Charging Reality Check: 350kW vs. 112kW on a Supercharger
00:32:49 - GM's New 5.7 & 6.6L V8s: Big Power for Silverado & Sierra
00:38:08 - Tesla Cybercab: Great Concept, Broken Business Model
00:49:39 - Alex's New Car Hunt: CarPlay, EVs & the Silverado Problem
00:51:49 - The Statistic That Explains Why Cars Hate Kids
00:57:45 - Car Seat Reality: Why Nothing Fits & Why Trucks Might Win

Nissan just showed up to the hybrid party — only about fifteen years late. But here's the thing: the new Rogue Hybrid might actually be worth the wait. Three big electric motors, rear torque that would make a RAV4 blush, and a three-cylinder engine that exists purely to keep the electrons flowing. Is Nissan's serial hybrid system genuinely clever engineering or an elaborate workaround? Meanwhile, Volvo quietly transformed the EX90 into a fire-breathing 670-horsepower rocket that does 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and adds 100 miles of range in five minutes — and almost nobody noticed, because Volvo tells nobody anything. GM unveiled two brand-new V8s big enough to make Ram nervous, and Tesla wants you to buy a Cybercab, deploy it as a robot taxi, and somehow turn a profit. Spoiler: the math doesn't math. Then it gets personal. Alex is car shopping — again — and the requirements are ruthlessly specific: CarPlay (non-negotiable, household law), a back seat that actually fits a rear-facing car seat designed for a seven-year-old, and preferably something that plugs in. What sounds like a reasonable list turns out to eliminate approximately everything good on the market. Along the way, the show falls down a genuinely fascinating rabbit hole: only 3% of new car buyers have young children at home, which explains — with uncomfortable precision — why modern cars are designed as if children don't exist. More Subaru buyers have pet chickens. 00:00:00 - Intro & What's On the Docket 00:00:59 - Nissan Rogue Hybrid: America's First Real Nissan Hybrid 00:04:11 - 3-Cylinder Serial Hybrid Engineering: Why It Actually Makes Sense 00:17:39 - Volvo EX90: 670hp, 800V & a 5-Minute Charge to LA 00:28:14 - Charging Reality Check: 350kW vs. 112kW on a Supercharger 00:32:49 - GM's New 5.7 & 6.6L V8s: Big Power for Silverado & Sierra 00:38:08 - Tesla Cybercab: Great Concept, Broken Business Model 00:49:39 - Alex's New Car Hunt: CarPlay, EVs & the Silverado Problem 00:51:49 - The Statistic That Explains Why Cars Hate Kids 00:57:45 - Car Seat Reality: Why Nothing Fits & Why Trucks Might Win #NissanRogueHybrid #ePower #SerialHybrid #VolvoEX90 #800VCharging #LucidGravity #GMV8 #SilveradoEV #TeslaCybercab #RobotTaxi #CarPlay #SuperCruise #CarShopping #RearFacingCarSeat #ChildSafety #HybridCars #ElectricVehicle #FastCharging #AutoBuyersGuide #CarPodcast #AutoNews #NewCars2026 #FamilyCar #CarReview #NissanHybrid

Sorry about what will be yet another dupe for some of our listeners on other platforms, but we're hoping third time's the charm to fix a bug in the podcast RSS feed....

After a brief hiatus for a new baby and some globe-trotting, the Auto Buyer's Guide crew is back with a deep listener Q&A session. Things kick off with a surprisingly entertaining look at repo car auctions — what actually ends up there, why the demographics of default make those lots rough, and the unexpected plot twist that the show's own old Blazer EV turned up at a Subaru dealer in Tacoma for $29K after originally stickering at $54K. From there the hosts run through their most and least favorite vehicles reviewed and owned, delivering genuinely candid takes on the Honda Prelude's pleasant surprise, the Fiat 500E's disappointment, Mercedes' infotainment frustrations, Honda's slow decline from packaging innovator to average, Hyundai's styling direction, and GM's baffling CarPlay-free EVs — a manufacturer-by-manufacturer tour that holds nothing back. The second half is both technical and personal. A listener's question about the Kia Telluride's dual 12-volt battery setup opens a thorough explanation of why every hybrid and EV still needs a 12-volt system, how DC-DC converters work, and a real-world comparison of vampire drain across a Rivian, Ford Lightning, and Kia EV6 left parked for two weeks. Then the show gets personal: Alex is car shopping for a growing family with very specific requirements — CarPlay, big rear seats for extended rear-facing, and plug-in or full EV power — leading to a four-way shootout between the Volvo EX60, Acura ZDX, Hyundai Ioniq 9, and the intriguing wild card of the Grand Wagoneer EREV, which could potentially replace both the family Durango and the beloved Grenadier in one shot. A full breakdown of Volvo's overseas delivery program rounds out a wide-ranging, genuinely useful episode. #RepoCars #UsedCarBuying #BMWiX #MercedesEQS #CadillacLyriq #AcuraZDX #GrandWagoneerEREV #VolvoEX60 #HyundaiIoniq9 #Polestar3 #KiaTelluride #12VoltBattery #EVVampireDrain #FordLightning #Rivian #VolvoOverseasDelivery #FamilyCar #CarShopping #AutoBuyersGuide #CarPodcast #AutoNews #EVCharging #HondaPrelude #RamREVE #ExtendedRearFacing 00:00:00 - Welcome Back: New Baby & Life Updates 00:00:38 - Q&A: Are Repo Car Auctions Worth It? 00:07:29 - Our Old Blazer EV Spotted at a Subaru Dealer! 00:10:21 - Best & Worst Cars We've Reviewed: Brand by Brand 00:33:21 - Q&A: BMW iX vs. Mercedes EQS SUV for a Family 00:40:24 - Kia Telluride's Dual Battery & Why EVs Still Need 12V 00:48:26 - Vampire Drain Test: Rivian vs. Lightning vs. EV6 00:50:27 - Alex's Family Car Search: EX60, ZDX, Ioniq 9 & More 00:56:07 - Grand Wagoneer EREV: The Wild Card That Replaces Two Cars 01:13:39 - Volvo Overseas Delivery: How the Process Actually Works

This week's Auto Buyer's Guide comes to you from Bogotá, Colombia, but the questions are as grounded and practical as ever. The episode is driven almost entirely by listener Q&A, covering everything from the perennial "when do you stop throwing money at a used car" debate — anchored by a real Ford Focus DCT horror story and a fleet-management philosophy that reframes how you think about repair economics — to whether buying an EV actually saves you money versus a comparable gas vehicle. The surprising answer: almost never, with one notable exception being the Subaru Trailseeker versus the Outback. Along the way, the hosts debunk the persistent myth that back seats drive up your insurance premiums, walk through the real factors that determine your rate, and weigh in on whether keeping a spare vehicle around is actually worth the carrying cost. The back half gets into listener SUV recommendations for a small family with a large dog — where the Chevy Traverse earns a strong nod for its Super Cruise availability and real-world practicality — plus a look at rust risk when buying a used car from a salt-belt state. From there it's on to the news: Ford's Fathom EV truck arriving for under $30,000 with Blue Cruise standard and Apple Maps baked into the hardware, the Kia EV3 coming to the US in 2027 to undercut the Leaf and Bolt, a heated Apple Maps vs. Google Maps vs. Waze debate, and a broader conversation about the slow, inevitable death of the manual transmission — and why fake EV gear shifts are mostly a parlor trick. 00:00:00 - Intro: Broadcasting from Bogotá, Colombia 00:00:38 - Q&A: When Should You Stop Repairing a Used Car? 00:06:38 - EV vs ICE: What's the Real Financial Break-Even? 00:11:02 - Insurance Myth-Bust: Do Back Seats Raise Your Rate? 00:14:46 - Is Keeping a Spare Vehicle Worth It? 00:20:54 - SUV Help: Best Pick for a Small Family & Large Dog 00:27:00 - Should You Buy a Used Car from a Salty State? 00:30:13 - Ford Fathom EV: Under $30K with Blue Cruise Standard 00:39:29 - Apple Maps vs Google Maps vs Waze: Which Wins? 00:52:54 - Manual Transmissions Are Dying & Fake Shifts Are Dumb #CarRepairAdvice #UsedCarBuying #EVvsGas #FordFathom #FordMaverick #KiaEV3 #SubaruTrailseeker #ManualTransmission #EVCharging #SilveradoEV #AppleMaps #GoogleMaps #Waze #CarInsurance #SaltyStateCar #ChevyTraverse #DodgeDurango #OutlanderPHEV #RAV4Prime #AutoBuyersGuide #CarPodcast #AutoNews #NewCars2027 #EVTruck #BlueCruise