(engine revs)
(upbeat music)
- This has been a really exciting year for new cars,
and here we have five of the best
and most significant ones to come out for 2019.
- We sure do, Jodes!
- These five cars are vying to be
AutoGuide.com's 2019 Car of the Year.
- They sure are, Jodes!
- Let's introduce our competitors!
- You sure should, Jodes.
(dramatic music)
- [Jodi] Starting with the most fuel-efficient model,
this is the new Honda Insight, a much-needed competitor
to the popular Toyota Prius and Hyundai Ioniq.
Does this hybrid have what it takes
to get attention from drivers who want maximum MPG?
- [Craig] Next up, the Nissan Altima,
which is brand new from the platform up,
ready to give Honda's Accord and the Toyota Camry
a run for their proverbial money.
It offers customers an innovative turbocharged engine,
plenty of interior space and comfort,
and even available all-wheel drive.
- [Jodi] And here we have the Genesis G70,
this Korean automaker's answer
to cars like the BMW 3 Series.
This thing has sport, luxury and looks, and shows that
Genesis is serious about making game-changing cars.
- [Craig] The Kia Forte is all new for model-year 2019.
With handsome styling, a roomy interior
and more features than you might expect for the money,
it really does have the power to surprise.
- [Jodi] Yet another Korean contender for car of the year,
the Hyundai Veloster is all new
and monumentally better than the one it replaces.
Although the whole Veloster lineup is pretty impressive,
the N really shines a playful and capable hot hatch.
- Wow, that sure is a lot of cars!
But there's only two of us
so this could be a real logistical challenge.
- Calm down, Craig, I've already called for backup.
Where is Sebastien?
- My opinions are required!
(intense music)
I'll be back for you later.
- How you doin' scarecrow?
- I'm rarin' to get comparin'!
- [Jodi And Craig] This isn't a comparison!
- [Jodi] We're not comparing these cars head to head
because that just wouldn't make any sense.
- No, and as always, we focused on vehicles that are
reasonably affordable, accessible for most motorists.
We've tested them extensively,
comparing them against other vehicles
in their respective segments
and what we're really looking for are cars
that bring something new to either automotive industry
or the categories in which they compete
and on that note, I think we should start our discussion.
(dramatic music)
- So here we have our five competitors for car of the year
and we're gonna start off
by talking about the Nissan Altima.
- Yeah, this is the brand new 2019 version,
it's all new from the ground up.
Obviously fresh styling, the car has grown a little bit
in all the important dimensions,
like I think every vehicle does
with every generation it seems.
- [Jodi] Of course.
- Yeah, but a lot to talk about with this car,
a lot of new features.
- Yeah, one of the most important features
is that it now is available with all wheel drive
which makes it pretty much the only one in this segment
with all wheel drive except maybe the Subaru Legacy.
- And the Fusion, but that's going aways soon
so it's kinda not at issue.
- Exactly, and so I think that helps this stand out
from its competitors, the Camry, the Accord
aren't available with all wheel drive.
- None of them curiously.
- Exactly and so if people were looking for that,
they don't have a lot of options in this segment.
- But it is kinda annoying that you should only get
the all wheel drive with the base engine, not to VC-Turbo,
like we have here which is actually,
I think we all agree that is a pretty good engine,
we like this engine and it kinda feels like
a missed opportunity not to have the VC-Turbo with
the all wheel drive which would kinda be the ideal car.
- [Jodi] Yeah, I think having both the VC-Turbo
and the all wheel drive would just give it that
special sauce that I think it's a little missing right now.
- Over the edge. - Yeah.
- Although, I will say I didn't expect to like this car
when I got into it, I sorta done, okay it's a midsize sedan,
who cares, and then I drove it for an hour
and kinda not fell in love but you know I liked it.
- [Craig] You have a begrudging respect for it.
- Well no, see there are a lot of cars that try to do
lot of things, this car is mostly trying to be comfortable.
It's got those massive developed seats.
- [Jodi] Those are the best, most comfortable seats ever.
- [Sebastian] Just immediately you get into it
and they call them zero gravity seats
and you just feel comfortable, which is,
it shouldn't be a big thing
that a car has comfortable seats
but if you go in most cars today, they don't.
So that was really cool,
and as I said the VC-Turbo's pretty good.
- [Craig] Oh, it's an excellent engine.
- [Sebastian] Yeah, it's an excellent engine.
- And it's the up-level engine that's two liter turbo,
very low compression so it's got some amazing technology
actually inside the engine that adjusts the compression
from eight to one to 14 to one so it can vary that
for either better fuel economy
or performance or any sort of blend it between.
And this thing has got some serious torque, about 4000 RPM.
The thing scoots because just looking at the spec sheet here
240 horsepower, 273 pound feet of twist.
- [Sebastien] Which is nearly 100 more
than the 2.4 liter Ford, this is the base engine
which is when you get the all wheel drive in.
- But that 2.5 liter base engine is actually like 80% new
'cause in the previous version of the Altima,
I hated that engine, it was grumbly.
- [Jodi] Right, really course.
- It wasn't smooth, it was totally unenjoyable
but the new updated version should be a lot nicer to drive.
But I gotta ask both of you this,
is it better than a Mazda 6, is it better than an Accord.
- I don't think so, I think the Accord when it came out,
it set a really high benchmark for other cars in this
segment and although the Nissan Altima is really good,
I don't think it hits that bar yet.
And they could have gone further to make it that good
but I think it just kinda fell flat in a few areas.
- I do like it more than the Camry,
I think this is a much better offering than the Camry,
but from the two other cars you mentioned,
year the Accord is just such a good all arounder.
- It is. - It's very good.
And Mazda 6 it just looks great,
although I will say this isn't terrible looking.
- [Craig] Got the V motion grill that they've obviously
added to their entire lineup,
they've grafted the latest version up here,
it looks very nice.
- [Jodi] I mean it looks good, my issue with this
is that there seems to be a lack of attention to detail--
- [Craig] Yes, yes, yes.
- [Jodi] On the inside and there's a lot of
weird build quality issues that kinda popped up,
like the head liner was all wonky and it was falling out.
- [Craig] Obvious pinched pennies, right?
- Yeah. - That dashboard moved.
- It moved a little and even this,
this moves a lot, it shouldn't do that right.
- Yeah.
- So I think if they paid a bit more attention
to making things higher quality
they could have maybe reached that high bar
that the Accord set, but yeah again, it falls short.
- [Craig] And no air vents for the rear seat passengers,
I find that kinda a little bit questionable.
- [Jodi] That should just be standard, right?
- [Craig] Yeah.
- [Jodi] And that's also the same case
with a lot of these safety features,
so it does come standard with a couple,
but it's not as extensive as the Camry or the Accord.
- [Craig] And like you said, the Nissan's pro pilot assist,
which is their adaptive cruise system with lane centering
which is really, really good. - Great, it's smooth.
- [Craig] It's not standard either on this car.
- And it should be! - It probably should be.
- And it's not even that it's not standard,
it's that we have an SR here which is not the highest model
but it is still it's not the base either
and there's a lot of things simple as nav missing from
this infotainment it does feel like for the price
you're paying which is I think around 30 grand for this one,
feels like it should come with
a few more amenities than it does.
- Exactly, we got about $30,000 for this
and I think base price is in the neighborhood of $24,000
which is par for the midsize course these days.
- [Jodi] Right, yeah.
- So overall, we're probably not smitten with the Altima
but it's a really, solid midsize sedan
that's going to serve people really well
for a number of years,
but why don't we check out the score sheets
and find out exactly how well this car did.
(upbeat music)
- [Jodi] How did this fresh-faced family car do?
Well, we all gave it strong marks for its powerful
and torquey engine, plus nobody had a bad thing to say
about its interior comfort, and those seats!
Just to reiterate one more time, they are so comfortable!
Out of a total of 600 possible points
it earned 403 points, making for an average of 134.
- Next up, we've got the 2019 Kia Forte
which is all new this year
and comes with two liter four cylinder
and it's got all new looks all around
which makes it looks a little more like the Stinger,
but you know it's pretty good.
- It's a really nice lookin' small car.
- I think it looks great. - It's handsome as hell.
- Yeah, and I think the thing that stands out most
about the Forte is the kinda features
it offers at this price range,
so it's got wireless charging and ventilated seats
which I'm pretty sure no other competitor has.
- Not that I can think of. - Yeah.
- And it's typical Kia, like strong value,
a lot for your money.
- Yeah, this makes a really strong value play.
So that two liter engine has 147 horsepower,
132 pound feet of torque which in my opinion is not enough.
I think one of the major downfalls of this car
is that it feels a little slow,
but there is some good news next year there's gonna be
a Forte GT and I guess a 1.6 liter Turbo.
- [Craig] Oh, nice!
- Which will really give this car the kinda life it needs.
- Yeah, I was tryin' to follow you guys in this morning
and just had to have my foot on the floor the whole time,
just being on the highway.
- [Jodi] Especially on roads like this
where it's hilly and curvy. - Exactly.
- [Jodi] 'Cause it's not built for stuff like that.
- And I will say that is sorta indicative of
the wider problem with this car is that it's adequate,
it's very good, it's fine,
it's got everything it absolutely has to
but it's sorta lacking a verve, it's lacking a spice.
- There's nothing about,
I really don't have much to say about it,
it's an excellent small car,
I think it's like we were talking about earlier,
better than any of the American compact cars,
the Focus or the Cruz, but is it as good as a Civic?
Well, probably not.
- Probably not, but the Civic does set a really high bar,
I will say though the build quality in this Forte
feels better than the Altima. - It does, it really does.
- And it is a lot less money than the Altima.
So I think that says a lot about what Kia
kinda stands for these days
and I actually really like the way it drives
beside it being a little bit slow,
it has a good on center feel, you know it feels okay
in corners, I just wish it was a little bit faster.
- [Craig] We've got the CBT which probably maximizes
the torque it makes the best use of the available torque.
- [Jodi] Right.
- [Craig] But you can also get a six speed, a manual.
- [Jodi] Yeah.
- [Craig] So, which would really up the fun factor.
- [Jodi] Yeah.
- Well yeah, exactly, I think you didn't mind
the transmission so much, it kinda faded away for you.
I found it a little annoying, it's noisy,
there's a lot of stuff happening but like no go and it's--
- It'll stimulate gear changes a lot like Nissan does
with its CVTs and I think Honda as well.
- But here's the thing about the CVT, Nissan's CVT
when you're in manual mode it did the thing
you asked it to do, this one when you're in manual mode
trying to figure out what's going on.
- There's no pedal shift.
- Why you just bother though.
- Fair enough, it is a good point, why even bother.
- The engine I also found quite thrashy.
It made a lot, it was smooth running,
but it made a lot of noise, and not pleasant noise, either.
- [Jodi] Yeah.
- Just kinda (hums obnoxiously).
- (laughs) Like a wookie?
- Yes, exactly!
- Wasn't overly loud
but the sounds coming out of it were a little bit strained.
- Okay, interesting.
- And one other thing, too.
Sebastien, you and I are sorta taller folks
and when I'm seated in the car in comfortable position
with the wheel where I want it, the pedals are way too close
they're like, my legs are bent like this
trying to operate the pedals, it's weird, it's just weird.
- Well I do have a bit of a far back lean back position
but when I was trying to set myself up so my arms were
in the right position I did find my knees to be up here.
And that was a little annoying.
It's not the most comfortable car in the class.
I mean, but we're being harsh on it
and I think overall it is very well built.
It's got enough of everything, it's got ventilated seats,
it's got things your wouldn't necessarily expect to see
in a car of this price range or segment.
But I will say it doesn't have quite as much safety feature
as you might expect which I think is probably
if you're looking to get a whole bunch of sales
might be a better place for Kia to invest their money
because I think a lot more people are going to buy a car
in this segment on, oh well it's got lane centering
and whatever else and this car doesn't quite have,
doesn't come with all of that
which I think is not necessarily a weak point
from when you're behind the wheel
but probably won't help it in sales at all.
- So overall strong offering from Kia that should do well
in the compact car segment but I think we ought to check
that score sheet now to see how well it actually did.
(intense music)
- [Sebastien] As you might expect, the Kia did alright.
We all praised it for its value
and its surprisingly good tech,
but in the chassis and powertrain categories,
its lack of zest and power worked against it.
Out of a possible 600 points, it scored 405,
averaging 135 across the editors.
- Alright, next up we have the Hyundai Veloster
and it is completely new for 2019
and it is so much better than the old model,
it really sparkles and we do have the N model here
which is really special but you have to remember
that we are evaluating the whole Veloster lineup
and not just the N model.
- Bull(bleep).
- Why? - I only wanna do this one!
- [Jodi] I know, 'cause this is also my favorite one.
- [Craig] Yes.
- Out of all the Velosters. - Just get the N.
Namyang for all.
- And it makes an argument for
the rest of the Veloster lineup,
it doesn't matter the rest of the Velosters should be
terrible if it lead to this then do it, go for it.
- Yes, yes. - Yeah.
- Exactly, I give you my blessing.
Which why is it so good?
You said it sparkles, which I totally agree with
I think it's got a little bit of life,
a little bit of exuberance that a lot of cars miss
even in this segment where it's all sporty and fun
this one when you turn it on, it crackles and farts at you
it does (imitates engine noise) and it wants you to play.
- [Jodi] It's just like a puppy.
- It is like a puppy. - It has so much personality
and if you look at what the N kinda competes with
in the rest of the segment, so you've got stuff like
the Type R, the GTI I would much rather have the N
over almost any of them.
I think it looks better than any of them,
it has more personality than any of them
and its still just as capable.
- Well unlike the Type R, which arguably different car,
but it is, that leans on its wild
and crazy looks to kinda get you.
Which if you are 19 and have an usual amount of money
and just want to do that, that's great.
But for the rest of us,
you don't feel stupid driving around in this car.
- Absolutely. - Exactly.
- [Sebastien] You just feel like you're having a good time
and I think it's just perfectly judged.
The seats, the bolstering is perfect, it fits me perfectly.
- And this car is also quite versatile
because when you leave it in the normal driving mode
it has adjustable dampers, so the ride is completely livable
but you switch it over to the N mode,
it stiffens everything up, it opens the exhaust,
you get the automatic rev matching downshifts,
makes you feel like a race car driver
even if you can barely drive stick.
It's wonderful.
- [Jodi] But for the most of the time if it's not in N mode,
it kinda loses it's appeal for me.
- Well, that's like the Tuesday car,
you're leaving work, you're driving home
you don't want a rough ride, you don't want noise.
- [Jodi] Right.
- You been at the office all day, just get me home.
- Sorry, I agree with you but I'm just thinking that
my enjoyment of this car is so predicated on the N button
that when I take it outta there it does become
a bit of a myth of a car, it's okay, it's fine.
- Yeah, so the regular Veloster,
so we're talking not the N version,
has a lot of the same problem as the Forte does
where without the N, it's a great car and it's fine,
but it doesn't do that much to kinda elevate its segment
even though it's pretty much in a segment of one,
there's no other three door hatch back
on the market right now.
- [Craig] What car is that asymmetrical?
- Exactly, it's no less practical.
- [Craig] No, not at all.
- I mean if you get in through that third door
there's still enough space in the back
for a regular size adult that you could fit back there
with almost no problem, a little bit tight on head space.
- I wouldn't wanna do a road trip in it,
but if you're just going out with friends, it's fine.
- Since you insist on including the entire lineup, Jodi.
- Yes.
- Let's talk about engines,
base is a naturally aspirated two liter gives you
147 horsepower, sounds pretty familiar to what's over there.
- Same as the Forte.
Which it's not great.
- No, I can't imagine it would be very fast
in this application either, there's also 1.6 Turbo,
which we're gonna be getting in 2020 for the Forte.
- Exactly. - But 201 horsepower.
But N's.
- [Jodi] This is all you wanna talk about is the N!
Look at his face!
- Two liter Turbo with we get two choices, right.
250 or I guess there's a performance pack with 275.
- [Jodi] Exactly.
It's an upgrade of $2100.
- [Craig] For two extra lines of software,
that's ridiculous, c'mon.
- Think of it this way, it's $2100 for 25 horsepower,
which is not insignificant and is probably less
than you'd pay if you went to get your car chip tuned
to roughly those levels.
- [Craig] That's true.
- Without voiding your warranty or anything like that.
- [Craig] Without voiding your warranty
or anything like that.
- That's good news, yeah.
I mean it's got a lot going on but does the Veloster
do enough to really elevate it's segment?
- I dunno. - I don't think so.
- It's priced at about 27 grand here which is not
a bad price for the performance you're getting.
We didn't really touch on driving yet either,
we talked about noise, we've talked about how it sorta rides
what about steering and acceleration?
- That's a good point.
It's really nice. - It's fun.
- Yeah, exactly, like the Geo that was a good basis
to build on which is a little sharp,
this is really extra sharp on center
and it's one of the fun cars when you press the N button,
it becomes, everything sharpens up so you get,
not only do you get heavier steering feel
because the suspension sharpens up a little bit
that means that when you're going into a corner
the car doesn't see and say the back end
doesn't dip down which makes it feel even more immediate.
So when you're carving around canyons like this
you can do stupid speeds, not that any of us would,
but you can go as fast as you like.
- [Jodi] Right.
- It's flat and it feels confidence inspiring.
- And that steering is tight. - It's so sharp.
- It's crisp, right as you turn in the car moves
and responds so intuitively and the shifter is excellent,
it's not quite as good as the Civic Type R
and maybe not quite as good as a Focus RS,
'cause I think the RS has a really nice shifter.
But it's still, the lever in here is excellent.
- I think it's great, it just comes together
in a really nice package and it's just really intuitive
to drive, really, really fast.
- Bingo, and not even fast because when I first jumped
into it it was like that, boom, I'm shifting.
- [Jodi] You got it right away.
- Well I'm shifting without any,
any learning, I can feel the engagement point
of the clutch immediately and a lot of modern manuals you
get in it's like okay, how's this car like to be treated.
- Right.
- You have to kinda figure out how it works
before it can be really be smooth, but this one was instant.
- This one was just like, do it, do it now, go fast.
- So there we go, car of the year, I dunno if we should out
those score sheets or not 'cause I think it's already won.
Jodi's shaking her head no.
Whoa, calm down Jodes, calm down.
- [Jodi] The Veloster did really well in our scoring,
driving off with an average of 155 points.
This asymmetrical little corner rascal earned top honors
in the powertrain, chassis and marketplace categories.
But is that enough for it to win car-of-the-year honors?
Wait and see.
- So did you guys read the headlines?
War has been declared.
Did you hear this?
- Tell me more.
- Believe it or not,
Hyundai has commenced hostilities against
Acura, BMW, they are serious about the luxury car segment.
With the Genesis brand.
- I agree.
I think this is such special car
and you can really tell that they put so much effort
into raising that bar that we're always talking about
and it did such a good job.
- [Craig] Yeah, it looks the part, it feels the part.
- Yeah, I agree, and I hate to bring up desirability again
'cause it's hard to pin down
but I do just kinda want this more than the competition.
I certainly want it more than any Acura
or Infinity product and I even think I prefer this
to the Germans because it feels like it's
just trying harder to impress me and I kinda like that.
- You'd like this more than a 3 Series?
- I would. - I think I would, yeah.
- I think so because BMW just treats people like,
oh it's a privilege for you to have our vehicle
whereas Genesis and Hyundai and the Koreans in general
they have so much to prove and so I feel like
they just go that extra mile to give people
what they want and add more in a car like this
and it's not only more desirable than the Lexus
and the Infinity that you mention,
but it's categorically just better.
- It drives really well. - I have no idea why
anyone would want a Lexus IS over this
and so I love the way this car drives
with the 3.3 liter twin turbo V6 it is fast.
- Makes 365 horsepower and 376 pound feet of torque
and is good for about a mid fours second zero to 60 time
which is as you say--
- It will squak their mirrors. - Oh yeah.
- [Craig] When you punch it from a get go.
I will say this though, this is the rear wheel drive version
and it's better, it feels a little bit more special,
it's got a little more in the hips than the all wheel drive
I know the all wheel drive has a drift mode or whatever
but this you don't need to put into a mode,
it just has it you know.
- Yeah, it has a little bit more personality for sure
but even the all wheel drive one
and even the one with the base engine,
so the two liter turbo four, it's just as good,
it's not as fast but everything that makes this car good
it's available in the base one as well.
- So as you mentioned Sebastien, this car is properly fast
but one thing I noticed while driving it,
there's a lot of squat and dive,
when you punch the accelerator the nose kinda lifts up
when you hit the breaks it's err.
So the body control at least front and rear, I dunno.
It could be tightened up a bit.
- I hear what you're saying
but I don't think it makes it any less pleasant to drive,
like in the corners it's not like you're leaning over,
listing to one side.
- [Craig] No, no, no.
- You're not driving a battle ship, I agree with you though
there is action in the-- - Drama.
- Yeah, exactly drama.
- I like that though, I'd rather have that than it be
so sterile that it's not even fun anymore, right.
I feel like that gives it a little bit of personality
and another thing I think the G70 does really well is
it's just a really overall good package.
It does the luxury thing really, really well.
It does the sport thing well, it looks great, it's desirable
is there anything wrong with this car?
- I mean, no?
But on the subject of luxury, let's talk about the interior.
There's a lot to say there.
I think it's really well done,
you have a quilted pattern on the seats,
the soft plastics are all the high quality,
the switch gear is quite nice,
nothing to complain about except for perhaps one thing,
the beige colored leather in this car is about to be
brown color leather in about two months
because you know what's going happen.
- [Jodi] You don't have to buy it in that leather though,
I think I would actually buy it in the black or something.
Yeah, it just looks a bit more luxurious maybe.
- [Craig] And it comes with
a little more back seat space probably.
- [Jodi] But none of the competitors have more than that.
- Exactly, it's appropriate. - Yeah.
- [Sebastien] And it's got the stainless steel,
it's got leather, it's got glass, and you know.
- [Craig] That's what Hyundai and of course Genesis as well,
they don't want the same sausage in three different links
like some of their rivals are doing.
They don't want the Matryoshka, the Russian dolls
that nest inside each other. - Yeah.
- They're going for it was described to as, more of a
set of chess pieces than the Russian dolls for instance.
- [Jodi] Yeah.
- [Craig] You can see they're in the same family
but they're not exactly the same.
- [Jodi] Yeah.
- [Craig] Which we can see here with the grill shape
and some other elements
that this is not like other Genesis models.
- And I think it's important here to say
that we don't just have the Stinger here two years in a row,
because we did have to Kia Stinger here last year,
I think it won car of the year.
- [Jodi] It did.
- Which is well deserved and if this was just a Stinger
then it's a great car obviously,
but this one is much shorter, it's about 200 pounds lighter
the chassis is anyway and I think you can kinda feel that.
And I know that Albert Meerman designed this one to
feel a little more precise,
a little faster through the force
and you can really carry a lot of speed
through the corners with this thing.
And I know that you were complaining about a lot of tilt
back and forth in this thing,
but the thing that you get with that is unlike a BMW
which if you hit anything larger than about
the size of a grain of sand you might break your back.
On this thing you can handle,
it is a nice road so it doesn't really matter
but in the Veloster you were doing a lot of shaking
which is okay, because it's a hot hatch,
it's mission appropriate but this one feels,
it handles all this stuff with an air of imperiousness
and superiority really, you can crush these roads.
- Yeah, and I think just going back to the Stinger,
this takes what the Stinger did
and elevates it to a higher level
where it really can compete with the Germans
and stuff like that and I did just want to mention this is
Korean car number three in our car of the year evaluations.
And I think that says a lot about how hard they're trying
to make really really good products.
- And they're succeeding, they're not just trying.
- Exactly, they're doing it and they're doing it good.
- Absolutely, so alright you guys,
you haven't really said anything negative about this thing,
so I suspect it probably did pretty well in our scoring,
but let's check that out.
(upbeat music)
- [Sebastien] Impressed, that easily sums how we all feel
about the Genesis G70.
It's comfortable, stylish, well made
and it absolutely rips with that V6 engine.
Out of a possible 600 points it earned 495.5,
an average of 165 from each editor, hashtag wow!
- And now we have the Honda Insight,
which actually marks the return of the Insight name plate
as kind of Civic size hybrid.
- That's very insightful, Jodi.
- Will you stop being so condescending!
- He's actually legitimately laughing at that.
- C'mon guys, this is an important car.
- Alright, alright, so this is like slots
between sorta the Civic and the Accord.
- Yes, although it is more Accord than Civic
in terms of features and stuff like that,
so it aims to go a little bit up market.
- It's quite a refined car and the interior
is very well done, it's got a lot of soft plastics,
it feels like quality which you don't necessarily get
in that blue one over in the middle there.
- True, very true.
And I kinda like that it just looks like a regular car,
it's a hybrid but it doesn't scream it out to the world.
It's not freaky looking. - Prius!
- I know, it's not ugly like the Prius,
and even the Hyundai Ioniq is
a little bit out there as well.
- Don't you guys think it's kinda taking the fun out of it.
It's like, hey we have this great thing
where you can have futuristic looking car,
you can drive the future guys, it's going to be so much fun.
But this is like, it's a Civic, it's whatever,
it's a Civic you just might
have a different word on the back, who knows.
- I think there's a big difference between ugly
and futuristic though, I think a Tesla can be futuristic,
I think a Prius is just ugly.
- Yeah, I know but this is so boring and it's so slow.
- [Jodi] But it doesn't have to be fast.
- But you have an opportunity,
you have an electric motor which all torque
all the time instantly, immediately and here's the thing,
I know that a lot of hybrids are slow
but they have that nice just zero to 10 mile per hour
that's just a little boot and root, it just gets you going.
And this doesn't have that, this you've got to have it
matted all the time and when you have it matted
the engines making all sorts of noise which is not refined.
- You've been driving with the parking break on Sebastien.
- Oh is that what this is,
oh my goodness that's what I've been doing wrong.
Because I've been doing something wrong
because it sounds crazy, you have your foot in one place
on the accelerator
and the engines going (makes back and forth sound).
It's really annoying.
- Yeah, and there's no change to throttle pressure or speed.
It's just the engine going everywhere.
- [Sebastien] It's just doing a whole bunch of stuff,
and this is a car that on paper looks amazing.
52 miles per gallon is great,
it looks like a Civic which I think a decent looking car,
but when you're behind the wheel as to drive it,
I just really don't like.
- [Craig] You're get a 151 horses,
just shy of 200 pounds feet of torque.
- [Jodi] Total system output.
- [Craig] Exactly, 'cause you've got electronics
and you've got internal combustion,
it feels slower than the Forte I think, would you agree?
- [Jodi] It's a lot less responsive
and it's not that it's slow, it's just not responsive,
I think that's the problem you're feeling.
Again, it's not aiming to be a luxury car either,
and if you're looking at what this does for the segment
would you rather have an insight over a Prius?
I would, would you rather have it over an Ioniq?
- Probably. - Maybe.
So it's pretty close.
- I don't expect it to have as much zest and verve
as the Veloster N but I would like it to have some joy,
to have some spice and to not be slower.
- If you want excitement, I invite you to read
the press release that Honda put out on the Insight.
Because let me just check my notes here,
it is, you can check this out for yourselves folks,
77 pages long, 23,000 words, 23,000!
- I mean there's a lot going on.
They put a lot of new tech and stuff into this car.
- I'm sure you're fascinated the floor panel
is made of steel that is 590 mega pascals,
did you know the moon roof glass, 3.5 milometers
but the windshield is 4.7.
- Excuse me for a minute.
- Wow, yeah.
- I'm going to take a nap.
- You're going to learn about that
if you read the press kit folks.
- But in general I know you guys
are hating on this car a lot.
- [Craig] No, I don't hate it.
- But I think it's a really impressive effort by Honda
but again, I see where your saying,
they could have gone a bit over and above
what we were expecting to make it really shine.
- I just think it's too late in hybrids and EVs
for us to be making hybrids and EVs that have no fun,
that are boring to drive and that are--
- Hold on, why does it matter if it's a hybrid
that's boring to drive when you have a small car
that's conventionally powered is boring to drive,
like is that okay?
- No, no I think that this more interesting to drive,
it's still a little loud
but at least the sounds are made in a logical way,
okay here's the thing, I remember my stepdad, the first time
he got a car that had automatic windshield wipers,
they drove him up the wall
because they would go quickly then slow,
then quickly then slow and that's the thing,
you have never noticed windshield wipers before in your life
until they were bad, this is what that does for hybrids.
It's not that it bad, it's just that the engine is loud,
it's not that the engine sound is so obscenely loud
it's just that when you're going down the road it's
(imitates engine sounding back and forth).
- I think what Sebastien's trying to get at
is that if you were trying to get more people into green
cars, give me a reason to want to do that besides MPG,
it has to go beyond maximizing those MPGs.
- But 52 combined, we're getting almost 45
but it's been idling for hours
and driven aggressively on these roads, that's amazing!
- I'll concede it is very good.
- And it starts at 23 grand, this ones about 29
which is because there are three trim levels,
Touring which is what we got here is the top one.
About 30 grand for a car that's going to get you 52 MPG
and it's going to last for decades.
- It's clear that Sebastien is not interested in this,
but there's a whole lot of other people who want
a car that is not fast
that's just really good at maximizing MPGs.
- Right and there are people like that
but I still think that hybrids and green cars
still have a bit of a dowdy reputation.
- Dowdy says the man who collects commemorative spoons.
(laughs)
And on that note I'm cutting him off,
let's go to the score sheet.
You're done Sebastien, let's see how the Insight did.
(intense music)
- [Jodi] The Honda Insight didn't fare too well
in the powertrain and chassis departments,
with our editors giving it pretty low marks
in terms of driving dynamics,
though it did obviously score well for its fuel economy.
It also made up some ground with its solid interior
and its marketplace significance.
Now that we've looked at all the cars,
I kinda want to know what you guys think should
and shouldn't be car of the year,
like what kind of vibes are you getting?
- Well, I think I've made it pretty clear
how I feel about the Honda but I think it may have taken up
a bit of airtime from you guys on that one,
may have gotten a little yelly there,
but I just think it's too late for a hybrid to be dowdy
and boring and not nice, you know.
- Yeah, I agree with him on that part.
For me, I think it's pretty bad that the Nissan Altima
can't offer the same build quality
that something cheaper like the Forte can.
- [Craig] Yeah, absolutely, I mean I absolutely agree
the Kia definitely has an advantage in interior quality
compared to the Altima, not so much comfort,
I think we would all agree the Altima.
- [Jodi] That's true.
- [Craig] It's those seats.
- [Sebastien] It's those zero G seats.
- Yeah and even just going back to the Kia,
I'm not sure it offers anything above and beyond
what we're expecting from other cars in that segment.
- It's a nice product but it just,
it's nice, it's fine, it's good, but.
- It doesn't sizzle.
- Yeah exactly, not much more.
- Yeah, exactly.
What do you guys think about the N?
- [Craig] N is going to win.
- [Jodi] Think of it, it's the Veloster lineup as a whole,
I keep having to remind you that.
- [Craig] That necessitates me ignoring you
because the N is awesome.
- [Sebastien] I gotta agree the N is really good!
- [Jodi] I agree with you, I think it's a really good car
I just not sure the rest of the N lineup
has enough to really elevate its segment, you know.
- [Sebastien] Here's what I'll say,
as a top of the line model, I think the N is more excellent
than the G70 is as a top of the line model.
- Sure. - Mm-hmm.
- But from base I think the G70 is solid across the line,
it's really good whether you've got four cylinder,
whether you've got six cylinder,
whether you've got all wheel drive or rear wheel drive,
it's nice to be in, it's nice to look at,
it might make you change your mind
about buying a German car.
- It absolutely can do that.
- Yeah, I think it's a really really strong effort.
- Absolutely.
So we've got strong effort, rival to the Germans,
we've got a lot of fun in a small package,
we've got comfort and questionable quality,
we've got a great little small car,
and then we've got rough, noisy, kind of boring.
It's kinda like you.
(Jodi gasps)
- You're fired!
- And on that note, let's check the scores
and see which car actually won
2019 AutoGuide.com car of the year.
(intense music)
If I'm still employed.
So, were you following along at home?
If you've been keeping score in your AutoGuide workbooks,
you already know which of these five cars clinched it.
But for those of you that haven't,
here's a little breakdown of the scoring.
Looking at each subcategory, the G70 won the powertrain,
chassis, interior and exterior sections.
Only Hyundai's Veloster drew a line in the sand,
preventing a total sweep
by winning in the marketplace category.
As for the Insight, it was trounced,
bringing up the rear in three different subsections
and tying for last place with the Altima in another one.
- But we won't keep you waiting any longer.
Jodes, take it away!
- And the winner of AutoGuide.com's 2019 Car of the Year is
the Genesis G70!
Not only is it a stellar luxury sports sedan,
but it also got the most points in our scoring,
which is easier said than done.
Congratulations, Genesis!
(upbeat music)
- How you doin' scarecrow?
- I'm ready to get comparin'!
- [Craig And Jodi] It's not a comparison!
- Sorry, my bad.
- I'm ready to get comparing' these particular vehicles.
(laughs)
- This is not a comparison!
- How you doin' scarecrow?
- I'm rarin' to get comparin'!
- This isn't a comparison! - It's not a comparison!
(laughs)
- Sweetie, just calm down.
- This isn't a comparison.
- I know.
- How you doin' scarecrow?
- I'm rarin' to get comparin'!
- This isn't a comparsion.
- And then you can go, whatever, whatever, I'm Craig
I have opinions.
- They're wrong most of the time.
♪ Sebastien's terrible opinions yeah ♪
♪ Sebastien's got-- he's just a beer tap of terrible opinions ♪
♪ And the keg is full ♪
♪ Spewin it everywhere scrape off the foam ♪
I may have fallen over there. I apologize.
- One, two, three! Left, right, point!
♪ Say hello to fun! Say hello to Frankenmuth, yeah! ♪
- I'm rarin' to get comparin'!
- [Craig And Jodi] This isn't a comparison!
- C'mon man!
- Be cool.
- Just chill out.