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Talking Cars 471: Driving the Freshened 2025 Volkswagen Taos
Main theme: For the 2025 model year, Volkswagen gave its Taos compact SUV some freshened styling, updated the interior technology, and significantly improved the powertrain. Gone is the balky dual-clutch automatic gearbox that the SUV debuted with in 2022, which we called in our road test an “obstreperous powertrain that would keep us from buying it.” In its place is an…
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Talking Cars 470: 2025 New York Auto Show Highlights
Main theme: The podcast panel filmed this episode on the floor at the 2025 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS). This year marks the 125th anniversary of the show, which originated at a time when owning a car was not a given for most families. Today’s show featured vehicles ranging from 1900s classics to the latest technology-laden vehicle debuts. The panel…
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Talking Cars 469: Driving the 2025 Nissan Murano
Main theme: The Nissan Murano gets a new look, inside and out, for 2025. It’s the midsized two-row SUV’s first revamp in nearly a decade, and it looks great. But we wonder who the target audience is, especially considering that we paid nearly $50,000 for our tested car. Read the 2025 Nissan Murano first drive. Audience Questions:• How long do hybrid…
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Talking Cars 468: Driving the Toyota Crown Signia
Main theme: In this podcast episode, we give our first driving impressions of the all-new 2025 Toyota Crown Signia, which we recently purchased for CR’s auto test program. As the name suggests, this new model is based on the Toyota Crown sedan. Where it differs from the sedan is that it doesn’t just look like a hatchback, it actually is…
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Talking Cars 467: Driving the Volkswagen ID. Buzz
Main theme: This week our panel discusses the 2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz that we bought for our test program. Our first drive video on the all-electric van we rented from Volkswagen five months ago was so popular that we decided to dedicate this episode to our own test model. We cover the experiences each driver had with the ID. Buzz: taking it…
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Talking Cars 466: 10 Top Picks of 2025
Main theme: In this episode of the “Talking Cars” video podcast, we discuss what it takes for a vehicle to reach the vaunted Top Picks podium. The panel notes the surprising number of electrified models on the list for 2025—that would be, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and pure electric. And even the wide variety of vehicles brought out a lively discussion,…
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Talking Cars 465: Driving the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid
Main theme: In this podcast episode, we give our first driving impressions of the all-new 2025 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid, which we recently purchased for CR’s auto test program. The CX-50 Hybrid is a collaboration between Mazda and Toyota. On the surface, it’s a CX-50 with a RAV4 Hybrid powertrain, although it’s a little more involved than that, and our panelists…
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Talking Cars 464: Live From CR’s Auto Test Center
This special “Talking Cars” podcast serves as a “recap” of our first-ever live episode of a show focused on the state of electric vehicles in 2025. We welcomed live viewers and listeners who shared questions for real-time engagement with the panel. As you might imagine, there was plenty to talk about. Conversation focused on whether or not the EV products…
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Talking Cars 463: Driving the Nissan Kicks
Keith Barry Keith Barry has been an auto reporter at Consumer Reports since 2018. He focuses on safety, technology, and the environmental impact of cars. Previously, he led home and appliance coverage at Reviewed; reported on cars for USA Today, Wired, and Car & Driver; and wrote for other publications as well. Keith earned a master’s degree in public health…
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Talking Cars 462: The Best and Worst Cars of 2024
Main theme: As we draw to the close of 2024, we thought we would mix things up a bit. As per tradition, we still take a moment to reflect on the past year and to select those cars that we liked the best and those that we found most disappointing. But instead of hearing solely from the normal Talking Cars…
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