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The Mitsubishi Outlander and Lexus UX 300h in review! · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: time now for this hour's car review.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to drive the 2025 lexus ux 300 h.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, final assembly location is miyawaka, fukuoka, japan.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Can you spell that?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Yep, there you go.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: F go, f-u-k.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it is U-O-K-A.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Yo mama, okay.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: So I can only imagine Mars trying to pronounce that.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I was trying to imagine it myself while you were saying it.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: The reviewed trim level.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: It comes in several trim levels base, premium and F-Sport.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I had the F-Sport handling package Top of the line, Compact SUV seats, five, all new for 2024.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I never got a chance to drive this.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Did you ever drive it before?
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: No.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Uh-uh, I hadn't either.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like a secret.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, and I didn't really know what to expect.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: And I didn't really know what to expect.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: It wasn't an RX, it wasn't an LX or LS or any of those.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: It's a UX, all new for 2024.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Smaller version of the RX with oversized spindle grille.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Faux brake duct inlets Help quell the big grill.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Kind of A nicely sculpted fastback rear hatch.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Awesome side sculpting Helps the UX stand apart from its competitors.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Overall, design is top notch.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: I got nothing to offer there.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Interior highlights Modern dash with optional big screen, which we had.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: The optional big screen.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Controls are well placed with easy to use features.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Seats are extra comfortable with nice side bolstering Materials.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Nothing but high end all the way with attention to detail.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: The cargo room small with the second row up, but this is a compact.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: The compact design.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: It puts everything at your fingertips and it goes through parking lots with a breeze.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Nothing Must be nice if you're a car manufacturer to hear that.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what could use improvement?
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: It's a good-looking vehicle.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I really do, particularly if you don't have the recalls to contradict it.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, there's that too.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, new for 25 is upgraded power system a two liter inline four hybrid.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: That turns out 196 horsepower, which is just the right.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: It's perfect, yeah, just the right level for this small of a vehicle.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Cvt transmission Get this Miles per gallon in the city.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Now, this is a hybrid and it's not a plug-in hybrid, so you don't have to do nothing but you put on the gas and go 45 miles per gallon in the city, 41 on the highway, for a combined of 43.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I got 40.7.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Wow, over 682 miles back and forth to Austin and then around Houston.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a good-looking car, it was and it was comfortable.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: What I liked about the mileage and the handling and all everything Use improvement.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I got a question mark here.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know what could use improvement.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: It rides great.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I was really surprised because usually when you get in a short wheelbase, it's choppy, it rides rough.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Like a funny car?
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, not like this.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Ride and handling superb, but could use improvement.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Again, nothing.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Base trim price $44,805.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Prices tested $48,200.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Loaded up it was that's not bad.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: The base model price $36,540 for a Lexus Wow, I'm liking it.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Competitors Audi Q3 starts at $39,800.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: The BMW X1 starts at $41,350.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: The BMW X1 starts at $41,350.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: And the Mercedes-Benz GLA and also the GLB $43,000.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: This one starts at $36,540.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Cool, I'm impressed.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: As I told you, I owned a Lexus way back in the day, back in the 90s.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: I bought a press car.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Back in the day, back in the disco days, yep, back in the days when you could actually buy a press car.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Back in the day, Back in the disco days, yep, back in the days when you could actually buy a car out of the press fleet.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: They stopped doing that because some moron ruined it for everybody.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: But whatever the case may be, I will tell you that I bought it and it had 12,000 miles on it.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: They were getting ready to get rid of it, Turn it over yeah.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And so I said I want the car.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I said yeah, and so I said I want the car.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: He said, okay, well, here's the prices, no negotiating.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I said I'll take it, bought it, had it for many years and loved that car and it was the original RX body style and all that, the little egg shape.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what a great vehicle.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: And I fell in love with the Lexxus brand through that and now with this one and taking this on the road to austin.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I want to thank, uh, the guy from lexus that allowed me to do that.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: It gave me a a different sense because I got to spend some highway time with it right typically don't do right.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I do around houston, but it's not the same yeah, it's not like having two hours.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, going different roads, going up like to austin and then the highway.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: The 35 minutes or whatever for him on the highway really doesn't give you that.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: And that's just in traffic.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it makes a big difference.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: So it was a great vehicle and I really appreciate the loan.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Lexus, once again for coming through.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Remember, I took the RX up to the top of Pike's Peak.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Remind me never to.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: No, you won't have to remind me, I'll never do that again.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Listen, you see those knuckles.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: They're still white, aren't they?
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I white knuckled it all the way up there and all the way down.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: So I should give up on trying to get us a remote broadcast from the top of that.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: See, I was thinking, don't keep going with that Go right ahead.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I'll keep it all tuned in for you.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: You just go up there, go on, get up there, be gone with you.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Was it 12,000, 14,000 feet?
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: It was up there.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Well, if I can find us a sponsor we're in these days, we're going to do that.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: No, you find yourself a sponsor, because I'm not doing it.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: We're getting the Legends car and you're driving it with Rodney Pikes Peak.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Anything you want, we can arrange that we have connections with the Pikes Peak Hill Climbing.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we can get it through Sison.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I can see you doing that, not Talk about Chicken Little, hey, if you'd like to.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: And time now for Jeff's Car Culture Two-wheel drive, four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Show us what you got.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I play with mine all the time.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: We know that.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: I know, let me get that going there.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: There you go, michael.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: All right, so do you really need it?
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Foul weather, deep snow, muddy roads I'll have drivers craving for more traction, but there's four distinctive drivetrain configurations that we know about now.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: That are possible on your car.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: So by learning how each of these systems work, you can better adjust on your mileage and what you really need for the road.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: So the front-wheel drive majority of passenger car vehicles on the road today use a front-wheel drive configuration.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Engine power is routed to the front wheels.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: We all know that Front-wheel drive designs are cheaper to manufacture, more space efficient than the rear-wheel drive systems because of the engine configuration with the transmission.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: It's right up there, right up front.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Then you have your rear-wheel drive RWD is what they're calling it.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: It's commonly found in full-size pickup trucks, old-school trucks and cars truck-based SUVs, along with sports cars, high-performance and luxury vehicle sedans also have a rear-wheel drive.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: So it's a heavy-duty axle suspension components that are designed to handle the large loads.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Who doesn't like a large load?
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: The large loads.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Who doesn't like a large load?
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: All-wheel drive, as the same implies all-wheel drive or AWB, can feed power to each of the corners.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Depending on the system and there's a lot of variations and designs for all-wheel drive vehicles depending on your manufacturer that you're buying they can provide maximum forward traction during acceleration.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: It's especially helpful in sloppy road configurations when driving over moderate or off-road terrain Got a lot of sloppy road conditions out there.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Sophisticated clutch systems, which more of the modern vehicles have nowadays more recently, used the electric motors to allow for precise control over the power sent to each wheel.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: High-performance vehicles with all-wheel drive often send power to each corner at all times but can be altered by using the balance control among the wheels, depending on the condition of the drive.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: So it's commonly used for car-based SUVs, as well as certain cars and minivans for the all-wheel drive systems.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Then you get into the four-wheel drive guys.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: The four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive are designations that are oftenly interchangeable in advertising and sales literature from your manufacturer.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: There is a difference.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Generally, the four-wheel drive is optimized for severe off-road driving situations, such as climbing over boulders, going through deep water, tackling steep hills with loose gravel and low-traction surfaces.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: So that's the main thing.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: What do you need for these?
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Well, for rain and light snow, two-wheel drive will probably work fine and for most vehicles, front-wheel drive is the preferred setup, likely to be less cost effective or likely to cost less than the equivalent of an all-wheel drive model.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: For performance cars, rear-wheel drive is preferred, but all-wheel drive is available and can increase traction.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Is all-wheel drive safer?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Not necessarily.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: One of the reasons people buy a traditional sport utility vehicle is for extra security and traction, because you're out there with a family, you might get in that loose gravel situation and so on.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: So that's part of it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Drivers can be fooled into traveling in quick, slippery conditions with all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles, only to discover that they're going too fast and trying to keep them from stopping.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: So be careful.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Mileage does have a factor in this.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: The two-wheel drive.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I was telling Don earlier I get about 32 miles to the gallon on my vehicle, four-cylinder, turbo.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: I can flick it into the or check it into the all-wheel drive.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: It gets a little bit less gas mileage.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: The sport version runs like a little go-kart.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: I love the feel of it.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: But you're getting like 25 miles to the gallon.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: So I play with mine in the car all the time.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Uh, seeing what mileage I can get, I'll change it at a stop light or whatever the case.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: I was playing with it last night on the way home.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Kathy says stop playing with it.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: I said okay.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: So, uh, use your judgment.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: If you get better gas mileage in the two-wheel drive, go for it.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: That's what I do.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: I like the auto mode.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Auto mode, auto, oh, where it shuts off.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: The drive mode in automatic, because if it senses that it needs four-wheel or all-wheel drive, it'll automatically flick into that mode.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: It'll automatically flick into that mode, or it can sometimes, on different manufacturers, send power to one wheel or the other.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: It's automatic, so you don't have to actually manually turn it into all-wheel drive, four-wheel drive, two-wheel drive.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: You have to do it as an automatic setting.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Not all of them do right, but if they do, that's where mine are, yeah.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Mine's a little button and once you hit the button it gives you your options on this, this, this or this, and I can toggle through it and hit one Right now, coming over two-wheel drive.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: My car is a sporty little car.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: I like it.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: I really like the car a lot.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Well my 2001 Corvette has got, obviously, its rear-wheel drive, but it also has the traction control device and you can turn it on or off or you can have a mixed level with it by holding the button down.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: And it's more complicated and they had a video on it when they first came out with it, because it was one of the first cars that you were able to actually control with the button and I was impressed.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Good deal Well there it is I'm impressed with a lot of things, a lot of things.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: All right Time now for this hour's car review.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Mr Mars had a chance to drive the Nissan Rogue oh no, I'm sorry the Mitsubishi Outlander.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Because this car right here is actually, underneath the skin of it, nissan Rogue.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Just thought you'd like to know.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate that Good to know.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: So I mean, it's been a long time since I've actually got to drive a Mitsubishi, particularly the Outlander, because this is the bigger SUV vehicle that they have Comes in four trim levels an ES and se and sel and the platinum edition.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Now we happen to be driving the sel 2.5 sa wc.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: Now the as the sa wc stands for the super all wheel control, like we were talking about.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: It will shift the power from wheel to wheel depending on what you need and where you need to go.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: So, uh, again, sel is the trim level that we were driving.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: The government says this is a small SUV.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I found it a little bit to be bigger.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: It is a three-row SUV, seven passenger, so to me I would not call it small.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: That's the face of it.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: That's the face of it.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: It looks like several things that are out there on the market.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Up front you're going to find LED lighting, which is going to have the auto high-low headlights, the fog lights, daytime running lights.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: Even the license plate light is LED, got heated power side-building mirrors, got a panoramic sunroof on it, a body color spoiler, silver roof rails to kind of give it a little contrast.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Hands-free lift gate.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: Roll on some nice 20 inch two-tone alloy wheels.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: And there's no spare.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: There is a tire repair kit I'm seeing a list more and more, and I'm not a big fan of that.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: But you got to save a little room and wait.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I guess now you get to the inside of it, you're going to find that you've got semi-aniline seating surfaces.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Now the first row is heated and ventilated.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: The second row is a 40 20 40 folding setup and the outboard two settings the 40 40.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: They are also heated up front.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: You got a 12.3 inch display.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: Now this is a smartphone link display, so you want to do some things in this car.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: You're going to have to hook your, your smartphone to it to be able to do it.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: It's where you're going to have all your audio, your nav, your comfort controls, your Apple CarPlay audio, android Auto wireless charger, and there are also front and rear USB-C plugs.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Now, again, that's a C, they don't use the A's in this car.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: So if you got into the old school type plugs, you're not going to be able to use them in this.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: You're going to have to step up.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: It has a 12.3-inch digital driver display that's pretty easy to configure to what you want.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: But it also has a 10.8-inch heads-up display that in the daytime it's a little light, you know, at night it works really well Daytime.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: You've got to kind of look at it.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: The designer rear view view.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: It's got a digital rear view mirror and then so it's got the rear camera in it and I like that.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: I'm seeing that more and more because you get a little wider angle view with that camera than you do if you're looking through the mirror.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: You're looking out the back glass now, uh, it also had the rear door pull-up sunshades.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: You don't see that much anymore, but this is the second car this year I've got that had that.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: It uses a Yamaha Ultimate Sound System, 12 speakers in it instead of some of the others that you hear about.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: So Yamaha is a little different.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Now the Outlander, regardless of what trim you get, has a 2.5 liter four-cylinder in it 181 horsepower, 181 pound-feet of torque.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: It has an eight-speed automatic.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Cvt is the way they have it listed.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: It does have paddle shifters on it.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: You can try and shift it manually, but it's basically a CVT.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Towed 2,000 pounds when properly equipped.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Epa says you should be looking for about 24 in the city, 30 on the highway, 26 combined.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: Now I drove this vehicle 222.2 miles and I got 24.2 out of it.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: I thought it did rather well.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: It's not bad for a big SUV, it is Probably.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: I didn't have a chance to tow it like some of the pictures and stuff I've seen of them, but Mike could use a little more juice under the hood.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: But it works fine.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Solid driving experience.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Feels good out on the road, surprisingly quiet.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: It's very roomy for the passengers in the front and the rear.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: The road, surprisingly quiet.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: It's very roomy for the passengers in the front and the rear.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: It does have a third row seat.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: I would save that definitely for the littles.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Base model price for this vehicle is $29,645.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: You want to step up to the base trim price for the SEL is $38,795.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Msrp is tested $45,930, which I thought was rather cheap.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: The honda crv is a comparable at thirty thousand one hundred.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: The mazda cxv at cx5 at twenty eight thousand five seventy.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: The nissan rogue that don mentioned is twenty nine thousand two hundred thirty.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: I also want to point out this is one of those vehicles that comes with a 10 year hundred thousand mile warranty on it and and I don't drive them very often, but I'd like to drive this for a long time to see if it'll hold up as well as it drove for the short term thank you, sir.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: In real time car talk show continues after this quick break.