America on the Road Podcast Episodes

The 2023 Lincoln Corsair PHEV is a full-featured 5-passenger luxury crossover filled with high-tech features like Lincoln BlueCruise 1.2 and other niceties. As we found in our 800-mile trek in the heavily revised vehicle, it is an impressive traveling companion for cross-country cruising. The luxury car business has evolved into the luxury crossover business. Lincoln isn’t alone in switching to follow the desires of luxury customers, and it continues to seek ways to differentiate its SUVs from those of other prestige brands. For the 2023 Corsair, its smallest crossover, Lincoln has emphasizes leading-edge tech. Lincoln BlueCruise 1.2 is a hands-off self-driving system that functions on hundreds of thousands of miles of highways in the United States. And its engineers and product planners have enhanced the infotainment system, the interior, and the exterior while adding new advanced driver assistance systems. Lincoln equips the Corsair Grand Touring with a plug-in hybrid powertrain that consists of a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine running the Atkinson cycle, an electronic continuously variable transmission, a rear-axle electric motor, and a lithium-ion battery pack. When fully charged, the battery provides 28 miles of all-electric range. In this episode, we’ll tell you how the Corsair fared during our extended drive. Also in the road test segment this week, co-host Chris Teague puts the 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV through its paces. We’ll discuss how it compares to the Lincoln Corsair, another plug-in hybrid vehicle. The top news story this week revolves around new proposed government regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032. The regulations could radically change what vehicles you can buy and what you’ll pay for them. We’ll have all the troubling details for you coming up. On the autonomous vehicles front, one of the top companies pursuing self-driving technology had to shut down several of its test vehicles recently, and we’ll tell you why. And in a special report worth reading, Reuters has reported that Tesla employees not only viewed videos captured in customers’ cars but also routinely shared those videos with others. We will give you details and our comments. This week’s guest is Chris Sutton, vice president of automotive retail at J.D. Power. He oversees the recently released J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study. This year’s study suggests that some things you’ve been told about electric cars might not be true. We’ll let you know what and have much more in this episode of America on the Road.

Some very important vehicles are being introduced at the New York Auto Show, which is going on right now, and we’ll have all the highlights for you in this episode of America on the Road. Perhaps the most important of the new production models is the all-electric 2024 Kia EV9 SUV. The first three-row electric vehicle SUV from Kia, the EV9 is the flagship of the automaker’s global Plan S strategy and one of the first mainstream three-row battery-electric EVs from a mass market brand. The Kia EV9’s standard 800-volt electrical architecture enables ultrafast recharging on high-speed DC chargers. Kia says the EV’s battery pack is designed to go from a 10 to 80 percent state of charge in under 25 minutes. With an optional 99.8-kWh battery, a single-motor configuration of the EV9 could achieve 300 miles of all-electric range. And when it comes to predicted range, Ram can top that with its just-introduced all-new 2025 Ram 1500 REV full-size pickup. When it finally comes to market to compete with the Ford F-150 Lightning, Ram suggested it will have a targeted range of up to 500 miles. Jeep pulled the wraps off a heavily revised 2024 Wrangler at the New York Show. Among the highlights are an available factory-supplied Warn winch, a new version of the iconic seven-slot grille, standard side curtain airbags, and a 12.3-inch Uconnect Touchscreen infotainment system. Our guest for you this week is Jay Joseph, the vice president of the Sustainability & Business Development unit for American Honda Motor Co. He oversees the company’s renewable energy, resource circulation, and new business development in the United States. We will talk with him about Honda’s hydrogen power efforts globally and in the United States. In this week’s road test segment, Host Jack Nerad will chronicle his driving experience in the all-new 2023 Toyota Prius Prime, the latest plug-in hybrid version of the vehicle that put hybrids on the map in the United States. From its looks to the way it handles day-to-day driving, the model is totally transformed. And Nerad will tell you why he thinks it’s the best Prius ever. Also in this week’s road test segment, Co-host Chris Teague will detail his week-long evaluation of the 2023 Toyota RAV4 Adventure, an off-road-oriented trim. He got the opportunity to put the SUV through its paces as the final winds of winter howled through Maine.

The all-new version of the 2023 Honda Accord surprises in several areas. The most startling change is under the hood where Honda has made a hybrid the top powertrain. Up until a few years ago, Honda showed a distinct lack of interest in hybrid powertrains but now it has done an about-face and installed a hybrid driveline is its flagship sedan. The addition of a hybrid drivetrain permits the Accord to go head-to-head with the 2023 Toyota Camry, which has its own well-regarded hybrids. Host Jack Nerad had the opportunity to drive and evaluate the all-new 2023 Honda Accord Sport Hybrid for a week during a period of wild weather in Southern California. He’ll report his findings in this episode of “America on the Road.” At the same time, Co-host Chris Teague was at the wheel of the 2023 Kia Telluride, which now offers two new off-road trims. Higher ground clearance, raised roof rails, and Downhill Brake Control are a few of the models’ added all-terrain features. Chris Teague will share his opinions on the Telluride coming up. Our special guest this week is Scott Tallon, director of product at Jeep. At the recent 2023 Jeep Compass driving event in Malibu, Host Jack Nerad sat down with him for a detailed interview on the changes that have transformed the Compass into a solid contender in the compact SUV segment. In the news, a prominent safety organization — the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety — has just gone on record knocking electric vehicles for being too heavy. It suggests their added weight is a safety issue and posits that lowering speed limits is the appropriate solution. Listen up to hear what we have to say about that. Also in the news this week, Porsche says criticism of its e-fuel initiative is “emotional,” and it is serious about proceeding with its plan. Do e-fuels represent a logical alternative to battery-electric vehicles? We present the pros and cons. And General Motors says it is considering installing ChatGPT in all its vehicles in the future. We’ll have more details on the implications of that and our comments as well in this episode of “America on the Road.”

The 2023 Dodge Hornet is the newest addition to the giant compact sport-utility segment. And it brings along the Dodge brand muscularity, an image that is entirely lacking in that starkly conventional segment. The Hornet also marks a major departure for the Dodge brand, which like all Stellantis brands, has an uncertain future as the parent company considers consolidation. But if the Honet points the way for Dodge, the brand should have a bright future. The two variants — the plug-in hybrid 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T and the turbocharged 2023 Dodge Hornet GT — are shining proof that crossovers don’t have to be mundane. Host Jack Nerad had the rare chance to drive both Hornet models at a recent event in and around Asheville, North Carolina, and he’ll have a full report. With enticing doses of horsepower and a “Powershot” feature that releases 30 extra horsepower for occasional use, the Italian-built Dodge Hornet will certainly raise some eyebrows … and may raise Cain. The subject of our other road test is equally interesting but for far different reasons. The 2023 Toyota Crown supplants the long-in-the-tooth Toyota Avalon as the brand’s full-size sedan. And while the Crown channels Buick sedans in some important ways, it also brings a distinct Toyota spin to a segment that is in need of as much spin as it can get. Guest Host Matt DeLorenzo tested the Toyota Crown and will share his impressions in this episode. This week’s special guest is Greg Kitzens, General Manager of Product and Consumer Marketing for Lexus. He joined Host Jack Nerad to discuss the all-new 2023 Lexus RZ 450E, the brand’s first battery-electric vehicle. And he had interesting thoughts on how the Japanese luxury brand can compete with the Tesla Motors juggernaut. In the news, the European Union has just announced a plan that would allow the use of so-called e-fuels in combustion engines after 2035, its previous deadline to go all-electric. This could be a giant game-changer in the auto industry, and we’ll have our thoughts coming up. Also in the news this week, a just-published article by Reuters says that many electric vehicles offer no way to repair even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents. This forces insurance companies to write off cars with few miles, which could lead to mammoth insurance rate hikes. We’ll let you know which automaker is most responsible for this problem coming up a little later.

With more than 600 horsepower on tap, piloting the 2023 Lucid Air Touring is more like flying an airplane than driving a sedan. But a highly competent performance sedan is exactly what the Lucid Air Touring is. Interestingly, it has other personalities as well. And we discovered many of them as we interviewed David Lickfold, Lucid’s Director of Chassis and Vehicle Dynamics. Host Jack Nerad sat down with him at a recent driving event based in Santa Monica, California. In the extensive interview, he revealed what Lucid Motors set out to achieve in the Air Touring … and how they were able to do it. Their successes in realizing the vision are impressive, as we will detail in our discussion. The all-new 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport is the anchor of this week’s road test segment. The new version of the TrailSport is designed and equipped to deliver more off-road prowess than ever before. That said, it will still be an on-road transport vehicle for most of its buyers, so Nerad and his wife put it to the test on a road trip from Southern California to Phoenix. One object of the journey was to test the new Pilot. The other was to attend a couple of Spring Training games before the Major League season started. Mission accomplished on both fronts. And we’ll tell you more in this episode. At the other end of the country — battling snow and ice — Co-Host Chris Teague was testing the 2023 Volvo XC90. One interesting thing about the test — he and his family own a three-year-old XC90 as their family car of choice. He’ll reveal how the SUV has changed and improved since he bought his. In the news, new-car prices keep going up, and now a global carmaker says the U.S. average price will top $50,000. We’ll tell who that automaker is and have more details and our thoughts on this coming up. And Tesla Motors is being investigated again. This time seat belts are the culprit. We’ll tell you which model is affected and what the problem is. Also newsworthy, the European Union is breathing new life into vehicles with internal combustion engines. Ferrari is one brand that is expressing relief at the news, and we’ll have more details on that and our comments as well.

Lexus has just unveiled two all-new vehicles that promise to shake up the burgeoning luxury SUV market in the United States. We were there for the “double feature” event where the Japanese luxury brand unveiled the all-new 2024 Lexus GX and the all-new 2024 Lexus TX. Staying connected while we are in our cars is critical for many of us. Now a new study shows just how important that is to American consumers and to the carmakers and data providers that are vying tooth and nail for what is predicted to be a giant market. We’ll have details on that coming up. And just when you thought there were no more three-row SUVs to talk about, we have another for you. Buick has shown us a glimpse of the heavily revised 2024 Envision, and we’ll tell you more. In the road test segment, Co-Host Chris Teague will describe his week-long experience with the Chevrolet Silverado 1500. Host Jack Nerad will discuss the 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E, the all-electric Mustang crossover SUV. Our special guest this week is Jamie Zinser, Vice President, Global Automotive, Novelis Inc., and a prime mover in a consortium called Alumobility. Jack Nerad recently had a chance to talk with her about the value of using aluminum rather than steel in automobiles. Electric vehicles might well be the biggest beneficiaries of that. I’m certain you’ll enjoy what she has to say.

The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R is the coolest truck in the Ford stable. This week AOTR Co-Host Chris Teague got the chance to match it up against the toughest tests Maine has to offer, including heavy-duty off-road driving and, toughest of all, a round trip to the home improvement store to get patio bricks and 50-pound bags of mulch. How did the truck do in those difficult circumstances? We’ll tell you in this episode. While Chris Teague was hauling bricks, Host Jack Nerad was hauling ass in the 2023 Genesis Electrified GV70 luxury crossover SUV. An appealing vehicle with some serious performance chops, the battery-electric GV70 won his praise for its 429 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. With 54 more horsepower and 125 lb-ft more torque than the gasoline-powered GV70, the electric SUV was hard not to like. That brings us to our special guest this week, an expert on battery-electric SUVs. Jonathan Chen is a senior product expert at VinFast, a Vietnam-based automaker that is just entering the U.S. market. We recently got a chance to drive the VinFast VF8 battery-electric crossover SUV, and we’ll discuss that and VinFast plans for its American launch. In the news, it is game-on in the midsize truck segment with an all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma getting ready to do battle with an all-new 2024 Ford Ranger, all-new 2024 Chevrolet Colorado, and all-new 2024 GMC Canyon. The confluence of all these new trucks is rarer than sobriety at a frat party. We’ll tell you how they stack up. A new consumer survey shows that many American car buyers want electric vehicles. But there is one big hangup that prevents many of them from buying one. We’ll tell you what that is and more on the survey in this episode. BMW might make a production vehicle out of a recent concept car that caused a lot of buzz. We’ll give you details on that. And Stellantis is recalling a lot of vehicles because of a fire risk. More on that too. In the true crime files automotive edition this week, a French lawyer says he’s about to file criminal charges against a major automaker over faulty engines. And two other big car companies — one based in the U.S. — have just been required to pay major fines for violating fuel economy regulations.

Jealously guarding its position as the maker of the bestselling pickup model in the United States, Ford develops and offers the Ford F-150 in a wide variety of work truck, personal-use, and off-road versions. One of our all-around favorites is the 2023 Ford F-150 Tremor, a vehicle we tested this week. To build it, Ford engineers started with the fully boxed steel frame, aluminum alloy body, and varied powertrains of the standard F-150 and modified it to give it more appeal to off-road enthusiasts. At the same time, they retained the everyday usefulness of the truck and made sure the price wasn’t out of reach. Ford has offered the F-150 Tremor package since the current-generation F-150 was introduced for the 2021 model year. A big addition this year is the new availability of the brand’s veteran 5.0-liter V8 engine, now offered as an alternative to the 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine. That was the configuration of the F-150 Tremor that Host Jack Nerad got a chance to test in the silt and sand of the desert outside Indio, California. He’ll have a full report. The 2023 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Autobahn Edition is the subject of guest co-host Matt DeLorenzo’s road test this week. The Jetta has always been an appealing compact sedan, but in this era of soulless electric vehicles, it might be more appealing than ever. Both Matt and Jack will detail their thoughts on the car in this episode. Volkswagen is also the lead news story this week as the brand introduced the U.S. version of its much anticipated VW ID.Buzz, the spiritual successor to the legendary VW Microbus. The unveiling took place in Huntington Beach, California, as a bow to the Microbus’s surfer heritage. We’ll tell you all about it and have some personal reminiscences about our own experiences in Volkswagen buses from the way-back machine. Our special guest this week is Toyota product expert Thomas Sondej. He recently sat down with Host Jack Nerad for an in-depth interview on the all-new 2023 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid and the hybrid version of the 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross small crossover utility. If you expect the price of electric vehicles to come down to the level of conventional gasoline vehicles soon — well, don’t hold your breath. The chief executive of a major global automaker says it’s going to take a while, and we’ll tell you much more as we recap the week’s top automotive stories.

Ford has just pulled the wraps off the all-new 2024 Ford Ranger and Ford Ranger Raptor, and we’ll have an exclusive interview with the truck’s marketing manager, Gretchen Sauer. The all-new Ranger is a serious step up from the previous edition, which had an overseas focus and was rushed into the U.S. market as midsize pickup truck sales rebounded in the past several years. The first-ever Ford Ranger Raptor brings 405 horsepower to the party via its 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6. Coupled to an advanced four-wheel drive system, a new electronically controlled on-demand two-speed transfer case, and front and rear locking differentials, the Ranger Raptor will get the job done off road. The 2024 Ranger features a more powerful 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 as a drivetrain option. New features like an available integrated box side step and fold-flat rear seats make the Ranger more versatile and useful as a hauler. The wider bed means that the Ranger can now hold four-foot-wide materials flat on the deck between the wheel wells. In-bed and in-cab outlets can power tools and devices on the work site or campsite. Pro Trailer Backup Assist, an integrated trailer brake controller, and a 360-degree camera make it clear the new Ranger is ready to tow. In this week’s road test segment Host Jack Nerad will evaluate Lexus’s first all-electric vehicle, the 2023 RZ 450e. The small luxury crossover finds itself in the midst of a bevy of small battery-electric crossovers, all vying for the same customers. Lexus is counting on a secret ingredient to be a difference-maker, and we’ll tell you what is. The hot new Nissan Z is our other road test vehicle this week. Co-Host Chris Teague took a week off from driving three-row family vehicles to put his foot to the floor in the hot two-seater. With 400 horsepower on tap and a willing chassis, the new Z is one of the best bang-for-the-buck cars on the market right now. In this week’s news, we ask the important question, “Can you afford to buy a new car?” A lot of people can’t, and we’ll report on new data that shows just how difficult it is these days. We’ll have commentary and some tips that can put the situation in perspective. While many cars are becoming more unaffordable, a select few are getting cheaper. It’s very possible that we will soon see an all-out price war in the electric-vehicle market. More entries are coming into play while interest rates continue to shoot up, and consumers are confused about the

General Motors has been gathering many plaudits for its Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving system, but soon it will be supplemented by the even more sophisticated Ultra Cruise. To go in-depth on the intricacies of Ultra Cruise, our special guest this week is Tonny Kraatz, assistant chief engineer on the program. Super Cruise is a highway-only system approved for hundreds of thousands of miles in the United States, but it lacks the door-to-door self-driving abilities of Ultra Cruise. In our interview, Kraatz will describe the nuances in detail and also point out how GM’s introduction strategy differs markedly from some other carmakers, including Tesla Motors. In the news, true crime is our top story this week. A former Apple engineer has been charged with attempting to steal self-driving tech from his company and give it to his new employer. And the former Audi CEO has pled guilty to fraudulent negligence in the wake of the Volkswagen “Dieselgate” scandal. Of more importance day to day, car makers are pushing back on the proposed Environment Protection Agency standards that would require a swift transition from conventional vehicles to battery electrics. They cite supply chain issues, high costs, and lack of consumer demand as key reasons the EPA proposals are unrealistic. On the safety front, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking for the recall of 67 million airbag inflators because it believes there is a safety defect. We’ll give you details so you can see if your vehicle might be affected. In this week’s road test segment, co-host Chris Teague will detail his family’s weeklong experience with the 2023 Ford Expedition Limited. Host Jack Nerad will examine the Lexus UX 250h, a small hybrid-only luxury crossover.

If you want to be the coolest parent at this Fall’s first soccer game arrive in the new 2022 Acura MDX Type S. Yes, it is a three-row SUV, but its performance helps you forget that when you’re behind the wheel. The hottest variant of Acura’s flagship MDX, the Type S is the most powerful, best-handling, and most lavishly equipped Acura SUV built since the planet was formed. In this episode of “America on the Road,” extremely rigid Co-Host Chris Teague tests the extremely rigid, fourth-generation MDX platform in Type S trim. It helps the SUV reach an elevated level of performance aided by its new 355-horsepower Type S Turbo V6. The model also features torque-vectoring Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, Brembo front brakes, and a 10-speed automatic transmission reengineered to handle the engine’s stout torque production. Also in the road test segment, Host Jack Nerad puts the fun-to-drive Mazda CX-30 through its paces. The vehicle can prompt debate on whether or not it’s an SUV, but there is no debate about its engaging driving performance. In standard trim, it offers 186 horsepower, but our testers were drawn to the 250 horsepower turbocharged version. Go figure. Do want to know what the highest quality vehicles are for 2022? Probably, and lucky for you, we have J.D. Power’s 2022 Initial Quality Study results. Many of the top models aren’t what you’d guess, and we’ll have the details plus our incredulous reactions. Also in the news, Volkswagen has just pulled the wraps off an all-new battery-electric sedan concept called the ID.Aero. With smooth styling and a lot of range on a charge, it could give Tesla a run for its money when it arrives on our shores in a year or two. If you are thinking about buying a car, you’ll be interested to hear what our special guest has to say about that. Jason Barrie is the chief operating officer of Digital Airstrike and an expert in auto retailing. Interviewed by Host Jack Nerad, he will bring his insight on today’s bizarre and challenging car market. And that insight could help save you some money. And heartache.