Questions, Coffee & Cars // Hybrid or plug-in, plug-in or hybrid?
Welcome to the motormouth YouTube channel I’m Zach I’m Andrea and we do full length car reviews each and every week and halfway through we came up with a segment called questions coughing cars and we spun it off to its own thing we’re up at number 68 how do you get a
Question in follow along on Instagram at motormouth Andrea every Sunday morning at 7: a.m. Pacific time I put a post out Zach and I are holding coffees Once We Gather our questions the post is deleted and we start the show time now for questions coffee and cars now before we
Start we are not in our usual Porsche Cayenne it’s in getting serviced certainly so we’re in a Ford Escape phv yeah all right your questions from Instagram always love the content of your questions coffee and cars even my 87-year-old mother enjoys watching you both hey Mom hi Mom so after 16 months
Of waiting my black roof Calvary blue ra 4 hybrid xxe with the tech package is coming in three weeks at the same time time my NX 450h plus the plug-in hybrid is coming I drive a lot about 500 km a week in the city for work but each weekend I drive
Another 500 kilometers for the mountain trip yeah so well you go ahead you start and then I’ll add my thought I don’t know what the question is well which one should he go for CU they’re both coming in at the same time I thought you’re getting two cars I think get both of
Them uh listen um probably the plugin if you can afford to plug in that’s going to really average down your costs um through the week in City driving now but he does so many kilometers that’s the only thing yeah but you’re still going to have lower average fuel consumption
So it’s either or I mean the the smart money just get the Cavalry blue and just drive drive hybrid you get that sport model that XS it comes with a lot of features so I pulled some numbers the NX 450h plug-in hybrid gets 2.8 L equivalent per 100 kilometers that’s 84
M per gallon equival equalent once the battery is depleted it gets 6.6 L per 100 km 36 Mi combined so you’ve got 60 kilm of range 37 miles the Rav 4 hybrid gets a combined 6 L per 100 kilm 39 M per gallon combined so my only concern is
The amount of kilometers that you drive each day really plugin hybrids work really well if you charge them all the time really that range let me jump in okay 500 kilometers a week divided by five working days that’s 100 kilometers a day you’re going to do 60 kilometers
Of that in EV mode right so you are going to average down your overall fuel consumption the longer trips on the weekend won’t be as e efficient though no so you know it comes down to and then one is way way way more expensive than the other so if it’s overall costs
Including fuel then the Rav 4 hybrid is going to be the one because it’s cheap to buy and you can put all that money toward Wars gas for sure I mean the NX 450h plugin hybrid is great I mean people want that that one is hard to get
But I just think fuel economy wise you might be better with the hybrid I mean it’s a real toss up but you’re paying more for the NX so I think you’re not going to make that up in fuel economy n do you want a premium luxury brand are
You okay with a non-luxury brand yeah but you get the Cavalry blue I like the Cavalry blue it looks really good hey guys absolutely love watching you both and I’m a longtime fan thank you is a plug-in hybrid more efficient in hybrid mode not EV mode with the battery
Charged up compared to driving it when the battery is depleted if so will the car’s computer know to use the battery Reserve by the time the fuel tank is also used okay there’s a lot going on in that question so um if you’re just running in regular hybri if it’s a
Plug-in hybrid like we’re sitting in a a plug-in hybrid right now and if you run it in hybrid mode um it’s not going to be any more efficient because the batter’s charged you got to remember hybrid cars have very small batteries in the case of a RAV for it’s like one and
A half kilowatts like it’s very small so it’s charging and discharging a lot the same thing would be happening with your phev now this the second half of that yeah so he just wants to know is it more efficient in hybrid mode not EV mode with the battery charged up comparing it
To when the battery is depleted no I don’t think there’ be any difference in that I think it it’s similar I think that you get the most benefits as we said in the last question to stay within that EV range daily to get the best F
Econ so what happens with the phev is it depletes the battery to a certain point and always keeps what it needs to run in in hybrid mode like I mentioned it only needs about 1.5 kilowatts in the case of a Rav 4 uh to run as an as a hybrid and
That would be the same the whole time it wouldn’t make a difference if it was charged or not no rumor has it that car manufacturers May potentially all go subscription based as time goes along for things like heated cooled seats heated steering wheel and so forth they already do it for
Connected services so why not for everyday things well I think this is going to backfire BMW came out and said they’re going to charge your subscription for heated seats and there was a h huge uproar and I think the car brands that excuse me don’t do that and
Adver that they don’t do that will get more business people really hate paying for something and then having to keep paying for it that’s not what we’re like for example we got our new GTI we get four years of connected Services I didn’t even want to sign up I said to
The guy I don’t need to sign up for this he goes well you know you can access this and that anyway I did it but at the end of the four years I’m not paying a nickel more for that not a nickel no and
I think a lot of people feel that way I think it would be a mistake to do it on comfort features like heated front seats I mean ESP especially in Canada or cold parts of the US these things should really come standard now um so I think
It would be a mistake I think it would also be a mistake if you did it with um driver Assist Technology these are things that people want um if they all did it they would get away with it if only a few do it you’ve got yourselves a
Problem I have no problem with your car comes preone with something and it’s just not turned on because you didn’t pay for it okay if they if they send me an email and they say oh by the way um we can unlock another 30 horsepower in
Your car if you pay $500 more I’ve been well I might I might do that but I you know that’s that sort of thing is fine but to just keep your heated seats and steering wheel going forget it no forget it I wouldn’t I just wouldn’t buy a
Vehicle if I had to pay for that there will be a Revolt there’ll be pitchforks at the factory gate yeah they they won’t be able to do it I don’t believe it on those comfort features that’s going to be a difficult thing to get through would you leave your reliable car that
Is good for something that might be more premium but also more unreliable Kia Sportage for a large premium SUV hey I am all about getting what you want I’m not really hung up on it’s got to be oh it’s got to be the most reliable car you
Can get and all this kind of stuff like the way we run our life is that we buy what we like we also happen to like Porsches and they’re pretty reliable so um that solves that problem uh but you know what um I say go for it you can get
A premium SUV just make sure it’s under warranty get an extended warranty I also think it depends on the person if you’re the kind of person who’s not going to sleep well at night worrying about whether your vehicle is reliable or not I would keep the one that you have that
Makes you feel most comfortable and reliable with Zach is right we recently bought a Volkswagen GTI we aren’t concerned about reliability if something happens we’ll take it to the dealership we also have other vehicles to drive so if we are not if we are out of having
That GTI for a while it’s not going to make her break us yeah but but you can have your cake and Eed too so if you’re going to buy a premium SUV and it’s used for example get one with a certified pre-owned warranty you can also buy
Aftermarket warranty so you can sleep at night and drive something nicer I my my whole thing at cars and a lot of people just want appliances I’m not into appliances I’m into I want what I want and I’m also life is too short to drive
A crappy car that’s what I think now we have a Cayenne diesel it’s been really good to us we haven’t had any issues with it it’s in for service today it’s an older model uh but the service it really hasn’t had any issues at all it’s
Just that the warranty is coming up so we’re getting it checked out um but it’s been good to us so would I take that vehicle that’s older just because it’s older and the technology is dated and move into a brand new Porsche no I would I would stay where we’re at Honda’s
Score is well below the industry average for the 2024 JD Power vehicle dependability study I have a 2024 Civic SI with 4400 kilm on it and I keep having warnings of parking sensor problems low speed braking control problems and brake system problems braking system may be reduced when I
First phon the dealer they said the car is new and not to worry but the brakes seem pretty important has Honda quality dropped well we see statistically yes we’ve seen from JD Power and consumer we just did we did two videos recently and I’ll put the links in the description
Below one about JD Power and their top picks and then um we’ll also do one for Consumer Reports and Honda and Acura didn’t make the list of the consumer reports and you know what car companies go through batches of issues and Honda might be going through some and the
Thing is don’t let the dealer tell you don’t worry about it if it’s a safety related thing like braking push them to make sure it gets rectified I’m suspecting it’s the camera um it’s got forward Collision warning autonomous braking and all that it might be the camera isn’t aligned properly which is
Throwing off the braking system now JD Power in the recent dependability study you’re right has Honda an 18th spot JD Power gives the Civic a good reliability score of 80 out of 100 Consumer Reports gives Honda as a brand a much better score Consumer Reports has Honda in
Fifth spot uh CR or Consumer Reports gives the Civic a predicted reliability score of 60 out of 100 so lower than what JD Power has so I was thinking JD Power is driven by different Vehicles remember Honda has introduced quite a few new vehicles and remember that
Sometimes it has to do with the infotainment system okay I just want to say one thing JD Power does it on the three-year dependability was it three years ago I think it was when the Civic was introduced 2020 uh no it was wasn’t 2021 I think it was three years ago that
The latest Civic was introduced and there could have been some problems with those first year models which is showing up in the scores I H I have no problem recommending a Honda Civic and and just work with your dealer push back say to them this is unacceptable I want to get
Answers if you could pick between the NX hybrid Q5 GC or X3 which would slow down slow down slow down say it again NX hybrid Q5 GLC orx 3 which would be your pick I really want a hybrid but German luxury Brands don’t seem to be moving towards regular hybrids and only do
Plugin hybrids yeah that got slow down for me Andrew you’re going too fast too quick for you trying to get in as many questions as we can okay so the only real hybrid of the bunch is the NX which is the Classic Toyota hybrid system the
Others are plug-in hybrids so you got to really get your head around the fact are you going to physically plug in every night and be committed to that are you you willing to spend uh the extra to get the plug-in hybrid over just a regular
Gas model back to the question we had at the very beginning if you’re not driving a ton say for example you’re looking at the GLC which is coming with a plug-in hybrid it’s going to be expensive and you could have years of driving just the regular gas model to make up the
Difference in cost so a lot of people like we said this in our last question coffee cars buying a certain car to save money on fuel can be Folly because that car could be really expensive you could buy a whole lot gas for 10 grand yeah you’re right about the German Brands and
The plug-in hybrids and they don’t offer a lot of range and they’re very expensive so you have to really consider that I don’t know what the GLC plugin hybrid range will be but right now the X3 isn’t great and the q5e isn’t great either so you have to really consider
That now here’s something the Lincoln Nautilus is going to be offered in a hybrid you might want to consider that and there’s also rumors that Genesis is going to be bringing out hybrids as well you might want to wait for that but you’re right about the German Brands
It’s plug-in hybrids so the Le is really the one to go is if you want a hybrid what we should do is hook this person up with question number one about the NX plugin yeah and maybe take their NX plugin that’s coming are you going want
HB though he doesn’t want to plug in I know I’m just saying play along Andrea come on play along play along uh best show and best content thank you my wife and I are currently looking for a luxury hybrid SUV oh my gosh we currently have
A 2015 Nissan Morano Platinum we did a quick check with the math to see how much we would save on gas but quickly realized that we wouldn’t save that much since we’ll have to get premium fuel 40 to 50 cents per liter than regular gas in Quebec anyway we’ll stick with the
Plan because we want that luxury car feeling which three luxury hybrid SUVs would you go for wow we just went through that but you know what I love about that comment is um that you actually ran the numbers and you actually did the math and I think for a
Lot of people um sometimes spending all that money for a plugin isn’t the way to go no and the other thing is I just want to say one thing Andre you can talk all you want about the cars available is that isn’t this interesting we have been talking on this broadcast for questions
Coffe and cars and through a lot of our videos is that the market is being driven by hybrids and plug-in hybrids we don’t get a lot of questions about full EVS you as our audience are reflecting back to what we think is this is where the market is right now it’s hybrids and
Plugins that’s what people seem comfortable with and the great thing about hybrids is you don’t plug them in and the great thing about plug-in hybrids is you can use a level one charger to charge it at home and you don’t have to stop on the highway if you
Want to keep driving and you don’t need the expense of a level two so I think there’s a lot of benefits with either of them and also battery replacement costs are less with those Vehicles because the batteries are smaller so I think we covered uh the three yeah there just
Aren’t any and you can consider Genesis might be coming up with one and that Lincoln Nautilus the new Toyota Crown signia is going to be coming out in a few months that’s a hbd that might be the way to go to and really it really has a Lexus feel
To that interior hi you two I pretty much am set on my next car being a new Corolla sedan hybrid but I’m toring between the Le all-wheel drive and the SE all-wheel drive can you make a case from one over the other what would be the deciding factors for you it comes
Down to the feature set same car same running gear uh same engine same everything the SE is the sportier one it looks a little sportier on the outside so I think it comes down to the features and you know that Andrea went online and looked up the feature set for the and
The SE so Andrea over to you what Fe features do you get in one or the other so there’s over a $2,000 difference between the two obviously paying more for the se but the SE gets a wireless charger a moonroof 18inch Wheels versus 15in wheels in the um Le so do you want
Those extra features I think that’s pretty good for $2,000 those extras and I don’t I don’t really want 15inch Wheels you know what Andrea it goes back to my Comet a moment ago I buy what I want and the difference in price per month and probably with an economy car
Like that most people are financing it or leasing it uh they’re not just going in and carving a check they’re more conscious about their money uh the good news is you’re buying a great car like a really good car Corolla hybrid and you can get the all-wheel drive if you want
And it’s just going to do everything you want each and every day just get the one you want it will work out in the end you’ll be able to afford either one also I think the resale value on the SE model will be better with those extra features
It’s a winwin for you get the SE okay are you dating somebody okay this is going to help answer your question ask your significant other your squeeze which one they want to be seen in and if you’re s if you’re single which one do you think is going to have a better shot
With uh the opposite sex I don’t think i’ want to date somebody who focuses on that myself but Andre you don’t want to meet a nice guy with a Corolla SE come on no I say that I wouldn’t want to have date someone who said who would judge me
Based on a base model or an SE that’s all I’m saying so get what you like but I do believe those extra features will be better for you in the long run when you sell the vehicle love love love your show I have a 2021 VW Aron that I’m
Leasing I’m not sure if I should just turn it back in or buy it out it only has 18,000 miles on it and the buyout is around $119,000 I love this car but I do like the read design of the atlas cross sport listen I mean it’s got so few
Miles on it and you can buy it out for pretty much not much and it’s not sold any longer and it’s a cool car it’s basically a Golf R running gear built into a sedan I mean I love the Ron I think it’s a wonderful product it was
Overpriced when it was new but boy it’s a nice product I mean like think about just think about this what can you buy today for 19 Grand nothing it’s got hardly it’s not even broken in yet yeah so I would keep it you love it you said
You absolutely love it why have the extra expense keep it enjoy it it’s been good to you any like I always say when you bring back a vehicle that has hardly any mileage on it it’s just a win for the dealership for yourself the dealer’s
Going to go ah look at this one has only got 19,000 miles on it put it on the lot for 27,000 and we’ll get some sucker SA yourself a few bucks go on a nice vacation there you go you don’t have all this expense of a brand new cross sport
Keep the rton You know what last trip we were on with Volkswagen was in the south of France go to the south of France your life great beautiful anyway that’s it for us our questions coffee and cars if you want to get a question and follow along on Instagram at motormouth Andrea
Every Sunday morning at 7: a.m. Pacific time we put a post out ask for your question Once We Gather them all the post is deleted and we start the show okay here Andrea here’s a here’s a real hard fact because you’re so dialed in on all the different trims you would get in
A Corolla and you’d close the door and You’ go base model you would i’ I’d close the door and I’d say base model but maybe going maybe we’re going on a vacation together maybe we’re going to go to a great place for dinner you know what it’s not it’s not really about that
Hey I had a base model coal MH and I loved it I thought it was fantastic it was good and you didn’t want to give it up so I loved it too that way you can afford and enjoy your life yeah don’t don’t buy a crappy car get get get the
Good one yeah that’s the way and my advice is date a nice person doesn’t care about if they judge you on your base model get rid of them he cares he cares you’re out all right that’s it for watching if you like what you see subscribe see you next time bye-bye bye
This is a Motormouth couple car video answering your questions from Instagram, like: Toyota RAV4 hybrid or Lexus NX 450h+ plug-in? Plug-in hybrid better in hybrid mode when charged? Thoughts on subscription services? Trading a reliable car for premium car? Honda Civic low quality score? Lexus NX hybrid, Mercedes GLC, Audi Q5 and BMW X3 plug-ins?
Luxury hybrid offerings? Toyota Corolla LE or Se hybrid? VW Arteon lease return?
Consumer reports top 10 : https://youtu.be/y_bjcbRiHQM
JD Power dependability : https://youtu.be/Qzm0LcwB6k8
Andrea Instagram https://www.instagram.com/motormouth_andrea/
Zack Instagram https://www.instagram.com/motormouth_auto/
0:00 Intro
0:40 Toyota RAV4 hybrid or Lexus NX 450h+ plug-in?
3:31 Plug-in hybrid better in hybrid mode when charged?
5:03 Thoughts on subscription services?
6:58 Trading a reliable car for premium car?
9:01 Honda Civic low quality score?
11:20 Lexus NX hybrid, Mercedes GLC, Audi Q5 and BMW X3 plug-ins?
13:27 Luxury hybrid offerings?
15:24 Toyota Corolla LE or Se hybrid?
19:25 VW Arteon lease return?
