November 27, 2025 • 39 mins
Automotive Expert Craig Fitzgerald joined Bradley for some shop talk! Listeners made a pit stop and chatted with the NightSide “pit crew.” All their automotive questions were answered…and they drove away with some wheely good information!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice eyes with Dan Ray on dog you mazy
bond in some news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
That's right, it is nice sight with Dan Ray.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Bradley j in for Dan tonight and later on we're
going to have the King of Thanksgiving in here. I'll explain.
You're going to want to stick around and see who's
the king and why. Right now, we're really happy to
have Craig Fitzgerald, whom I call a car wise guide.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You like that I should have. Sounds like a good idea.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yeah, that sounds King of Thanksgiving though, that's I could
claim that that's big, right, that is big?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
So you are wise automotively. You're an automotive writer, having
written for Hemmings et cetera, and you work for now.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I work for DCI Marketing now in Milwaukee, and we
do a lot of work for Subaru and Kia GM,
a little bit for Harley Davidson.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
So we're going to talk about some.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Of that sure later on. But the headline is, well,
a couple of headlines. One Black Friday and used cars?
Is there a Black Friday deal on used cars? Like
there is other stuff? And speaking of used cars, what
are the ten best used cars to buy? Today, So
(01:13):
there's a lot to a lot of information that is
pretty actionable there. First time me ask you, Craig, you're
always driving different cars, testing them out and riding about them.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
What'd you drive in today? I drove I looked like
a Limo driver. Today.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I drove a Lincoln Navigator white as if it were
I was picking you up for your prom. And uh,
it's it's a beautiful vehicle.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Loved it.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So I've actually the last few weeks I had that,
and I also had the the Expedition, which is the
Ford version of the Lincoln Navigator, and both of them
are to me, are equally fantastic. And they have Blue crews,
which I don't know if do you know about blue
crews at all?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do not.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
So it's a it's a cruise control where you know,
and I think people now are familiar with adaptive cruise
control where.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
It slows you down as you get behind somebody so
you don't have to keep getting out.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Of correct correct. Love that so much, isn't it great?
So so much. It's a fantastic feature and I love
it a lot. Blue cruise ads hands free, so on
the highway you can be doing highway speed, following a
car in front of you, your hands off the wheel.
It's not autonomous driving, but it does allow you to go.
(02:31):
So I went from here to Portland, Maine, and I
only touched the wheel twice.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
To make you, what'd you do with your hands that
whole time? Was it worth it? It was so totally
worth it. Able to knit?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Yeah, I knitted a sweater on the way up. No,
I you know, it's not quite there.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
So there.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
It's actually monitoring your eye position. So if you're not
paying attention, if you're not looking out the windshield, it
yells at you and tells you, hey, you better pay attention.
And you know, but and there are certain times when
you need to grab the wheels, so like through the
toll Gantria, at the Hampton Tolls, construction zones, things like that.
(03:13):
It'll make you put your hands on the wheel. But
I loved it because, and I think you and I
have talked about this before. With adaptive cruise control, it's
like that takes a mental load off of you when
you're in traffic, you know, heavy traffic. You're drew cruising
along at forty five miles an hour. Now you know
you can you don't have to like constantly gas break,
(03:36):
gas break.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
It's doing that for you.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
And if you want to pass, all you do is
get in the other lane, sorry that that car's not
in front of you, and it goes back up to
what you set the speed in right.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
So blue cruise. What that does also is if you're
driving along and the car in front of you is
not driving at your set speed and there's an empty
lane next to you, it'll say, hey, we can pass
this guy.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Do you want to pass?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
And then you just hit the turn signal and it'll
pull out into the other lane, make the pass, get
you back into the lane, all without having.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
To touch the steering ask you audioly.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
I mean, you know what it prompts you, you know,
like it says something like you know, you know, pass
enabled or whatever it says.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can't remember saying it. Would you like to pass this?
It doesn't ask you a question.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
It just tells you that you know you have the
space to pass, and you you can decide, So you
decide by hitting the turn signal. So you hit the
turn signal, makes the pass, comes back in after it
after it does the pass and keeps going. So I mean,
I really like it. I think it's a it's a
it doesn't feel one hundred percent baked yet that it's
(04:41):
like you can just kind of, you know, not pay attention.
But it's a pretty nice feature on both the Esque
Expedition and the Navigator. So really really impressed with that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Adoptive cruise control. I was wondering this, and I'm glad
you're here. Let's say you space out a little bit,
you listen to.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
A song and you get a little fuzzy, and all
of a sudden, the person in front of your breaks.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Will that prevent you from hitting the car in front?
It will? It will? It'll go right down to zero,
it will. Ye see that that's huge. Yep. Why wouldn't
you have it all the time?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
So you know, I I use it every time I'm
on the highway, Like those features I use all the
time because and I never like cruise control because it
never matched, you know, what the speed of traffic was.
It always seemed like it was so limited when you
could use it. But this you can use all the time.
And I use it all the time, and i've and
(05:38):
I've I've found that I hate traffic less, you know,
because I don't have to put as much effort into
it as as as I used to.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's really something to hate.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Traffic less is a valuable Yeah, yeah, a big value.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I'm not saying I love it, but I do hate
it less.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Speaking of that, just as an aside, I went up
to the White Mountains the other day and I'm going
really pretty early six thirty northbound in ninety three, and
I noticed that there's a traffic jam already.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
It goes from the Tobin to I don't understand, And
I guess I'm just I don't understand. How you live
like that? No, And how do you live like that?
There are many of you do it. I don't mean
it to mean you how I'm asking you, how do you
live like that?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
So my wife, you know, we live in Holliston. She
works UH in Government Center UH and has to go
in there two days a week. She leaves the house
at five thirty in the morning to beat the traffic
in the morning, but on the way out at three
o'clock in the afternoon, it's five o'clock traffic now. And
so there's no time when you can leave this city
(06:49):
except for when I leave here tonight. At you know,
at ten o'clock, I'm not going to hit a lot
of traffic going home. But but any other time it's
gotten brutal.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Do you think it's.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Worth looking insane just to keep polks out of Yes, Like,
what would you recommend?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Would you recommend? Nobody's going to jump on.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
This wagon, but would you And what I would commend
a fee to come in town.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
What I would recommend would be continuing what Governor Baker
wanted to do, which was tell state employees that they
should be working remotely. And and so by taking that
you know, giant volume of people. You know, not everybody
can do it, but most people can. If your job
working an office somewhere, then you can. You don't need
(07:34):
to be able to do is do.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
The job and the boss can tell you did the
job because the job gets done right.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
So that was the plan was for Boston be carbon
neutral by twenty fifty. And the way that they were
going to get there is they were going to stop
people from you know, having a commute every day. And
we have the technology to do that, we have the
ability to do it. People are people have have just
jumped right into it. During COVID, I mean I never
went back to an eye office ever again, so there's
(08:02):
absolutely no reason for a lot of people to be
going in every single day.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I guess a lot of employers have found that people
are more productive when they are in the office, or
there's something they like about it. However, I would say
that if you don't have to have employees in the office,
you could you could be paying so much less in
office state exactly why wouldn't you do that?
Speaker 4 (08:21):
So I think there's a number of things going on.
I think the I think the real estate market is
a little concerned that, you know, all of a sudden,
like you know, Commonwealth of Massachusetts says, hey, we don't
need all these office buildings. We're going to sell off
all of these things. And you know, collectively the price
of real estate, you know, commercial real estate tanks, and
(08:44):
none of the commercial real.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Estate developers want to have that happen. But there has to.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Be some solution to this, because it's impossible to get anywhere,
you know, to get from this is you know, twenty
one miles from here to where I live. That can
take two hours, Like you could walk faster, and there
the trains there, you can always take the train, but
the train's expensive one way or another.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It's fifty five bucks a day.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
So like you know, between trains and parking and you know,
or driving and parking and gas and tolls, it's it
costs her fifty five bucks a day to drive into town,
so and probably around forty to take the train.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Well, folks, I'd like to have you join in now.
We'll take a break, We'll go to Alex and Millie
anything automotive, but we will be getting the information on
what the ten best used cars to buy right now
and talk about how to maybe maximize Black Friday automotively.
And you know the number I believe to call in
six one seven, two five thirty WBSY.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is Nighttime with Dan Ray.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I'm Bradley for Dan tonight and we have Creakvist charge
with us Cara wise guy. He knows cars, and we're
going to talk about ten best used cars to buy
today as well as Black Friday opportunities. And the number
here is six one seven two ten thirty, and we'll
start with Alex and Millis. How's it going, Alex, let
(10:19):
me get you on board there trying to Mike clicker.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
There we go, Pappy.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Thanksgiving guys, How are you happy?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Thanksgiving? To you?
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Hi? Alex, Hey, how you doing? Maybe these are silly questions.
First off, I've never owned a domestic car. I've always
felt that foreign cars are far better engineered. Uh you know,
primarily we've had Toyotas and sugar Rush and you know
I love them. My question was this, have the domestic
(10:49):
cars caught up with foreign cars? And the other question is,
when you change your oil, does it matter what brand
you use? Like my car takes zero twenty since and
if you choose Valvoty or a store brand, does it matter?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Good questions. So, first of all, I mean, I think
you know, you get you got to understand that the
the the automotive industry is very global now.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So you know, if you're.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Saying, you know, Toyota or Subaru is domestic, they're actually
a lot of the Subaru products are built right here.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
They're built in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
So if you buy a Forester right now, those are
built here. They built built several other vehicles here. They
built the outback here up until a year or so ago,
So you know there's there is a lot of domestic
production here. Toyota does the same thing. Mercedes, they all
have plants here, so they're essentially a domestic car at
(11:50):
this A lot of them are a domestic car at
this point. And then also Afford, you know, maybe built
in Mexico and may be built in you know, a
number of different places. So but I do get your point,
and yeah, I think I would say Ford has had
(12:11):
some recall issues over the last couple of years. They've
had a lot of recalls. I don't necessarily have a
problem with that because that's the manufacturer just standing behind
their product. You know, I don't know if how old
you are, but I remember when you bought a Lemon,
you just owned it. You know, there was no Lemon law,
there was no you know, no recalls. It was just
(12:32):
tough luck.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
You you bought the car and you owned it. But
you know, to me, for for a manufacturer stand behind
that product and repair it when you're in for an
oil change, I think that's a great, a great thing.
So I will say, yes, yes, the domestic manufacturers, specifically
Ford and GM, are significantly better than they used to be.
(12:56):
Stilantis not so good. Right at the moment, a lot
of shoes with Stillantis. Now they're sort of perpetually going
out of business. So if it were me, I would
stay away from the Stillantis products. So your second, your
second question on the oil, All oil, you know, sort
of goes through the same rating agency. It goes through
(13:18):
the American Petroleum Institute. So whether it's a store brand
or it's Valvelene, they are usually they come from the
same manufacturer and they are also run through the same
rating agency. So however, I don't think there's any downside
aside from you know what, what's the difference is a
ten dollars of you know, for five game, you know,
(13:41):
for five courts. You know, I would always choose to
go with the name brand. It's just I don't just
think there's any reason not to.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Does that also apply to when you fill up with
gas if you go like if you look for Sonoco
or Mobile, I mean, uh, rather as opposed to non
non brand named gas.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
So I tend to look for top tier gasoline. So
that's actually within brands, they will be rated a top
tier fuel. So you'll find those at Mobile, you'll find
them at Shell, but you can also find them at
like you know, you know, Luke oil stations sometimes have
(14:27):
it too, so like it'll be indicated on the pump,
like this is a top tier fuel?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Heard of this? Yeah, I need to know.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
So again it's an it's the American Petroleum Institute. They
rate a lot of these things, and the top tier
fuels tend to have more detergents and and that kind
of thing in them to keep the fuel system as
clean as possible to burn as efficiently as possible. So
those things, I think, you know you're safe going to,
like I wouldn't. I don't know if i'd necessarily go to, like,
(14:56):
you know, a no name gas station unless I was
driving something from the seventies. You know, see, if you're
driving something from the seventies, kind of doesn't matter what
you put in it.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
But these things are pretty pretty efficient now.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So yeah, good questions, Alex, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
That a good night.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Okay, Now.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
You know, Jay, I'm having issues with my screen here.
I had trouble getting the collar on and now having
trouble dropping whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I'll move on.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
That's a pretty good question. I still don't really understand
the top tier fuel things.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
If I.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Is it different between say mobile stations. Some mobile stations
will have top tier fuel and others won't.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Most of the big brands are going to be top
tier fuels, okay, so you know, they're just sort of
do it as a matter of course.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Something is always good to explain, is why the higher
higher octane matters and what the difference between octane octanes mean.
And as I understand it, it just means the higher
octane is less likely to prematurely explode.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
It's it's causing a knock, right, it's the ignition. Right.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
So, but what the key is is what your car
is designed to run. If your car is if your
car requires premium fuel, you got to put premium fuel
in it. If it's recommended, you can put anything out, Okay,
so you know, and that's you know, tends to be
performance cars.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
So turbosy force cylinder turbot tends to need a premium
because it runs in a higher compression.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Right, correct, Listen to me almost like I know what
I'm It's.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Almost like you've asked me these questions enough and they
have begun again, which is like, you know, like I've
spent twenty five years doing this and I have to
tell people things nine hundred times for the for that
to start to sink in and you.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Start to get irritated with me.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
No, I don't tire questions because I have too many
tire quests.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Question Tonight, All right, six w b Z.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
If you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
This is Nightside Bradley for Dan with Craig Fitzgerald talking
car stuff, and we will get to the ten best
used cars to buy today and talk about Black Friday
car deals.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
First, we go to Anne in Day. Hi. How are
you hi?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Anne?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
How are you hi? What can we do for you?
Speaker 7 (17:30):
Amy?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Oh good, I'm happy. Thanksgiving number one. I don't know
if this is going to be a spoiler, but I
am currently looking to purchase a used car of I've
been approved for a loan, and I'm just really having
a hard time finding something that I deemed decent. And
(17:54):
I guess my question is do you think it's better
to buy at a dealership as opposed to going to
you know, you see those little gas stations or those
little places where people have cars for sale?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Yeah, okay, what's your what's your budget look like? Now
you don't have to tell me like you know, crazy
numbers or anything. But like, are we talking about my budget?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Is?
Speaker 7 (18:19):
My budget is fifteen thousand.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Okay, So so I've told people this before. You only
need one car, right, so it's you know, you're everybody
kind of looks at this like, you know, it's it's
like a daunting process, you know, but you really you
only need one car, and you've just got to find
one that's been fairly well maintained, you know, that hasn't
(18:43):
been in a lot of accidents.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So the nice thing about the dealerships is they will
they usually will offer the car with a car Fax
report that gives you some vehicle history. You know, you
can kind of understand if it's been an accident. Car
Max is getting a lot better about maintenance too, so
if the car has been maintained, you'll see that in
the in the car facts as well. I mean in general,
(19:09):
you know, yeah, you're probably a little bit safer on
a you know, with a larger dealership than you are
with with you know, a gas station that just has
a car for sale.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
But if that car for sale is a good car,
then you know, like it it.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You know, it makes a big difference if it is so,
So I if you're gonna look at cars at you know,
at smaller lots or gas stations and things like that,
I would definitely bring that to somebody and have them
look at it, have them put it up on a lift.
It's gonna cost you a couple hours of labor. It's
well worth a couple hundred bucks to me to have
somebody look at a car before I buy it. So
(19:45):
I would suggest doing that.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So it doesn't matter how bigger dealership, as long as
you take it, get it put up on a lift.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
I And you know a dealership, you know, if they're
a halfway decent sized dealership, they're gonna have a lift
so that you can actually look at the car.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Are and you know, but you got to know what
you're looking at. Company, I'm interested if you put it
on the list. Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
I find that. Unfortunately, at my budget, I'm you know,
kind of looking at cars that are newer with a
whole bunch of mileage correct or an older car with
not so much mileage correct.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I think given the choice of the two, given the
choice of the two, if it's not the technology that
you're interested in, I choose the older car with the
lower mileage as long as it hadn't been in an accident,
you know. But you know, fifteen grand is kind of
a weird you know, like it's a it's a bit
of a whole, I know, because you know, you're everything you're.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Going to look at is going to have over one
hundred thousand miles on it. But I.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
Drive a niss On right now and it's got one
hundred and eighty thousand with no problems whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Right, So so what what model Nissan? It's a rogue okay,
so just out of curiosity. If it's got no issues,
then why do you want to sell it?
Speaker 7 (21:07):
I couldn't said one hundred and eighty thousand miles and
my door handle just broke. And it makes me think
that things are going.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
To start yeah, you know, it's things start getting up
to one hundred and eighty K two hundred K. That's
when things start falling apart a little bit, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
On the other hand, twelve yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
You've gotten your money's worth out of it, you know.
I you know, Bradley and I are going to talk
about best deals and and you know, top picks on
used cars and stuff. And you know, if you tend
to go with the things that you know are popular,
like Rav fours and and the Honda crvs and like,
(21:48):
they tend to be significantly more expensive. So you kind
of like if you can look into like we're going
to talk about Mazda's a little bit, four of the
cars on Consumer Reports Top ten list are Mazda products,
so and I don't think people really pay that much
attention to them.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So if you can find a mask like a c X.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Three, they're a pretty nice car for a lot less
money than you might spend on a Honda or a Toyota.
So you might start looking in that in that direction.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
I will, and I appreciate your advice. My thing is,
I don't want to go back to a car like
I don't want to go back to being feeling like
it's sitting on the ground anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
X five is five because it's kind of tall. Yep. Yeah,
that's about.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
The size of what you're driving now. So the Rogue
kind of fits in between the c X three and
the c X five a little bit. It competes with
the c X three. The c X three is is
kind of small. So Bradley owns a c X five
and it's been very happy with it. You know, they're
uh and you sit up you know high, you know,
(22:56):
just like you wouldn't any other crossover. So I mean,
I I'd suggest taking a look at one of those
for sure.
Speaker 7 (23:03):
Okay, right, well, I thank you so much for your
time and your advice.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Certainly, thanks and six any other automotive questions for us
here on WBZ. Let's get into the you know, top
ten lists. Yep, you said four of them on the
list of miles is that makes me please?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
It? It?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
It was surprising to me because I was like, I
looked at the list and I was you had mentioned
it to me, you know, do you want to talk
about this?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
And I said, yeah, sure, thinking.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
In my head it's going to be the it's like
the greatest hits, you know, like it's going to be
all Toyota and all Honda, and that's going to be
boring to talk about. But four of those vehicles were
mas the X three made the list or I'm sorry, uh,
Maz the six made the list for under ten grand Wow,
which is a that Maz the six is a really
(23:51):
nice car and you can buy it from you know,
sort of the barebones version to the more performance oriented version,
just the way you wouldn't in a you know, Honda Cord.
But that's a really nice car for the money.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And you know, if you can.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Convince you, like I, I am a car person, like
I am not a crossover suv person. So if I
was going to buy a car, that would certainly be
on the list of things that I'd be interested.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
What's your beef with crossovers. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
It's just like I just don't want to look at that.
I don't want to look like everybody else.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
It's like I maybe seventy of the vehicles were a crossovers.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Right right.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
And I don't need I don't need a lot of
cargo volume. I need a trunk, I need a back seat.
It's not like I need a you know, a vehicle
like that to drive around. And I do like cars
that drive like cars. I like the ability to take
a corner and and you know, put some gusto, you know,
(24:51):
and and crossovers don't do that particularly well. They're okay,
but and they're all based on cars, but they all
sit up higher, and as a result, they don't have
the handling prowess to the car.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Don't tell me if this is a problem with me
or a problem with vehicles. I know now with the
tech and such that being able to see through the
back window is not as important as it was. But
so many back seats have headrests that block the window.
There may be eighty percent. I take the head rests.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Off right right what they're required to be there, you
know when when the car is built and it's it's
an unintended consequence of making that requirement that you can't
see out the back window anymore. So Volvo in Mercedes
years ago, when you bought one of their vehicles that
(25:44):
had head rests in it, there was a button on
the dash that you pushed and those head rusts would
fold down so that you could see right out the
back one.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Every time I go somewhere, I have to take off
the seat covered thing on the head rest, pull it
off right so I can see right, and then put
them back when I I don't drive that much. So
then you go up in white mountains and back.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
There's a number of things like there's the requirement for
the headrest, there's a requirement for roof strength when they
do rollover tests, and that is dependent on the size
of the the B and C pillars.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
So I'm really am thankful for that rule because every
time I roll the vehicle over.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Those times tho you've rolled over, Yeah, well the one just.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Flip back and just drive away, just keep going, So
you know, I get it, I understand why. But it
also makes it really hard to see out of these things,
and it makes things like backup cameras and side view
cameras a necessity now, which again, like I don't really
like that, you know, because those things are bound to
(26:47):
break at some point or another. You're bound to not
be able to see out the camera. If it's snowing
or you know, the road salt or whatever, it's going
to distort that view and you're not going to be
able to see out the back. So I would prefer
to be able to actually see out the windows. Another
reason I drive oldering, and it was the anther thing.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I saw a post you posted on LinkedIn where Craig
can be reached, and it was about the difference between
the type of headlights and the heat that generate in
snow and why one might be better than the other.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Right, So everything comes with an led headlight now and
people complain about it.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
We've talked about this before.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
You know, LEDs are much brighter factory LEDs that come
from the automotive manufacturer. They're not blindingly bright, right, it's
the aftermarket LEDs that are the problem. But the issue
that you run into here in the wintertime is that
LED headlamps generate no heat. You can you can touch
(27:50):
the bulb and there's no heat coming.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Out of it. That's how does use much electricity or
advice right? Correct? Most of the electricity uses waste it
off in heat. Correct.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
So when it snows, it's not a waste, it's right exactly.
So it melts, it melts the ice and snow off
of the headlight cover when you run a halogen bulb
in there, because the halogen bulbs created a tremendous amount
of heat. But again, this is one of those unintended consequences.
If you're driving down four ninety five and it's freezing rain,
(28:22):
you're eventually going to be looking through headlights that look
like you have cataracts, right, you can't. It literally builds
up and the light won't go through it. So I've
had to pull over and scrape the headlights off on
some of these vehicles because they just don't get warm enough.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Another example of tech having glitches, as the adaptive cruise
control lens can get covered with snow.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, you shouldn't be using them anyway, as
in the bad weather like the so you know a
lot until we get Lieder, which everybody tells you it's keep,
it's it's coming, it's coming, We're going to get it.
We're not going to get it for the next twenty years.
Light R is actually a sort of a radar system
(29:08):
that actually uses a radar to monitor around the vehicle,
so it sees regardless of the weather conditions. Right now,
you're you're dependent on line of sight, so there are
cameras in the car that are monitoring the vehicles in
front of you, and as snow starts to build up
on the windshield, it just blocks the view of those
(29:29):
things and all of your light lights on the dash
come on to tell you, you know, you can't use
any of these features.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
But folks give us a shout. Six one seven.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I haven't asked an automotive question of Craig Fitzgerald, who
knows what's up when it comes to cars and you
can ask any question, especially one that's looking for a
recommendation on what the best used cars are to buy
right now the Consumer Reports Top ten used car list.
And I have some other questions, and any general questions
(30:01):
are fine, and industry questions are good too. I'm gonna
ask about tariffs and if the political situation in addition
to tariffs, if there's something about the uncertainty in our
political system that might increase prices or affect the automotive industry.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Coming up on.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
WBZ it's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Onward with Craig Fitzgerald, Carr Guy. Any automotive questions.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
This is the time not just about new cars, but
also is your car making a funny noise? How do
you know when it's sound to get rid of your car?
What about winter maintenance? What about how to deal with tires?
I'm a tire fanatic. Six one, seven, four, ten thirty
is our number. We'd love you to join us. Happy Thanksgiving,
(30:47):
It's good to be with the WBZ family. Now let's
get into the Black Friday thing. Are there deals on
Black Friday for cars just like anything else? Or and
now are they real deals or is it smoke and mirrors.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
So it's less of a Black Friday deal than it's
they're coming to the end of the year and they're
looking to sell as many vehicles as they possibly can move.
And this has been a kind of a down year
for the automotive industry. Like we're off pretty much every
(31:20):
month in terms of the number.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Of vehicles sold.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
So I would assume that you could probably do better
getting towards the end of December than you've had, you know,
in current in the last few years. You're probably better
off now. Like there were times in twenty twenty two,
twenty twenty three where I was telling the people like
(31:44):
if you can wait, wait because there's no deals to
be had out there. But it definitely feels like things
are starting to loosen up a little bit. The issue
is that the interest rates are high enough that it's
causing people some issues. You know, they don't want to
pay the interest rate. So that's the thing, is like
combining interest rates with a good deal, that's where you
(32:07):
want to you know, that's where you want to want
to be looking at. I'm not sure who's got any
great finance rates at the moment, but they're you're starting
to see some more rebates come online again.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Those essentially went away for for for a number of years.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
So, so dealership wants to sell a car. Can you
walk in there and they have a price, can you go?
Can you say to them, you know, I know you're
not selling any cars.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Yeah, give me a deal. I want to I want
this car, all right, I want to drive away.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I want to make a deal. I want to feel
good about the deal. So I want to drive this
car away. What can you do for me? And you
say that exactly right?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean you know, you want to
know what their best what their best number is. And
a lot of people are doing that on the phone,
like they're calling ahead. They're like, hey, look, you know
I saw that you have this car that I want.
I am interested in this car. And just like Ann
from Worcester was talking about, she got financing time. So
she's all set to go like she's financed, she's a
(33:04):
she's a solid buyer. Now you may get in the
dealership and they say, hey, look, you know if you
finance with us, we can get you an even better deal.
I'd let them have that conversation with me for sure,
knowing that I still had in my pocket, I'm still
financed for fifteen grand.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Then, of course trying to make up that on giving
you a bad trade in You have to be aware, you.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Got to be aware of trade. And honestly, I don't
you know, the trade is a real convenience, but I
don't know why people do it like you.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
You've lost half special You're a car guy. You know
you're used to putting stuff, selling him buying. Yeah, I guess,
I mean, I definitely am. I mean I would never
trade anything. I'd always sell it out.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
How do you do?
Speaker 4 (33:48):
You don't put it out on the lawn with a sign.
I would put it out on the lawn with this.
I've done it all I've got. I've put it out
on the line with a sign. I put it up
on Facebook, Marketplace, I I've put things on auction sites.
What else have I done? Marketplace? Oh, I've gone to
(34:08):
like swap meets, you know sol cars there.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Okay, So what is it set a net gain from
that you would realize selling it yourself versus it's half
you've lost. You're losing half the money on the vehicle.
I don't care what kind of trade deal they want
to give you. You're losing half the money on a
trade at a dealership. That's solid advice, you know, like I,
(34:34):
what is that likely to mean?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Dollar amount? Just worth the hassle?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
So so two thousand dollars yeah, right, that's what you got.
That's what you have to that's the math you.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Need to do for yourself. Is the convenience with two
thousand bucks?
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Right, that's what it is, right, And for me it
always is. You take so much offering and saying I'll
give you a good example. My daughter, My daughter had
that the Wrangler that I was driving for a while. Right,
it was a two thousand and three. It was beat
up by the time she got done with it. She'd
driven it for three or four years. I got we
we sold that on Facebook marketplace to the second person
(35:12):
that came to looked at it. They gave her forty
five hundred dollars for it. That would have been maybe
one thousand dollars vehicle on a trade.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
So wow, So you had to decide one would have
to decide in this case, is it worth three thousand
dollars for the hassle of selling it myself? Yes, it
was totally worth it since it only would take what
really four or five hours to sell yourself.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Really, Yeah, so that's like five hundred bucks.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
So here's here's what I did. I washed it, I
detailed it. It looked great.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Yes, it's almost worth paying two hundred totally totally a
hundred bucks again in detail, yep.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
I took a ton of pictures. I must have taken
twenty pictures of it that I posted on the on
the marketplace ad.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
People think if you take a lot of pictures, you're
proud of it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Absolutely, And it also answers a lot of questions for them,
what's the interior look like? I can't tell you how
many cars I've looked at online with one picture like,
I'm not even gonna go look at that, so like
take the time to do that one picture in bad light? Yeah, exactly,
And for me, it was totally worth it.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Jay, let's talk to Richard in Cambridge. We have a
couple of minuteshigh Richard, Ahi, Richard and Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (36:20):
We are I have an interesting problem that I'm trying
to get resolved. I have a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Limited
twenty twenty, which has had a problem in that the
car constantly dies. You parked the car, come back an
hour later, it's dead. And it's got a secondary problem
(36:44):
in which the hybrid has suddenly lost mileage. It's now
giving me miles per gallon in the twenties instead of
the forties. So there is now two tsbs out on
this particular issue. And I have taken this to Ford
deal and none of them will agree to fix the car.
And I've actually called Hyundi corporate and the very nice
(37:08):
lady on Deliver into the phone says, oh, that's not
my department. You'll have to call somebody else. And I said,
do I have a phone number? And she goes no.
So my question is how do I get this car
fixed under warranty the way it should be. There's about
fifty thousand miles on that's it.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Yeah, because that's got a ten year, one hundred thousand
mile powertrain warranty right right, So you know the it's
the it's the dealership's responsibility to it. Like you've brought
it to four dealers. What was the result from there?
They basically told you there was nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:47):
Yeah, They put some little magic machine on the back
of the car and they go, oh, the numbers are
all okay, we can't do anything about it. And the
symptoms okay, the symptoms are exactly the same as our
lined in the TSB is that there's a battery drain
going on in the battery which requires replacement. And the
(38:08):
second one.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Is it the hybrid battery or the or the starting battery.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
It's the twelve vote battery, which is lithium ion in
this car, which is placed inside the hybrid. Why they
did that, I have no idea, but that's where they
put it, and the dealer apparently doesn't want to bother
or fix it because whatever the reason, what we're going.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
To do is to get to the news top of
the out break and everyone think about what the problem
might be, and Craig will address this problem at the
other side of this break. So that's something to look
forward to. Everybody think, hmm, what could it be and
see how close you can come. And we'll continue on
WBZ after this. It's great to be here with Craig
Fitzgerald's and we're going to have the King of Thanksgiving
(38:54):
later on. Think about who that might be. That's all
coming up here on WBZ News Radio ten thirty
It's nice eyes with Dan Ray on dog you mazy
bond in some news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
That's right, it is nice sight with Dan Ray.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Bradley j in for Dan tonight and later on we're
going to have the King of Thanksgiving in here. I'll explain.
You're going to want to stick around and see who's
the king and why. Right now, we're really happy to
have Craig Fitzgerald, whom I call a car wise guide.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You like that I should have. Sounds like a good idea.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yeah, that sounds King of Thanksgiving though, that's I could
claim that that's big, right, that is big?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
So you are wise automotively. You're an automotive writer, having
written for Hemmings et cetera, and you work for now.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I work for DCI Marketing now in Milwaukee, and we
do a lot of work for Subaru and Kia GM,
a little bit for Harley Davidson.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
So we're going to talk about some.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Of that sure later on. But the headline is, well,
a couple of headlines. One Black Friday and used cars?
Is there a Black Friday deal on used cars? Like
there is other stuff? And speaking of used cars, what
are the ten best used cars to buy? Today, So
(01:13):
there's a lot to a lot of information that is
pretty actionable there. First time me ask you, Craig, you're
always driving different cars, testing them out and riding about them.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
What'd you drive in today? I drove I looked like
a Limo driver. Today.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I drove a Lincoln Navigator white as if it were
I was picking you up for your prom. And uh,
it's it's a beautiful vehicle.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Loved it.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So I've actually the last few weeks I had that,
and I also had the the Expedition, which is the
Ford version of the Lincoln Navigator, and both of them
are to me, are equally fantastic. And they have Blue crews,
which I don't know if do you know about blue
crews at all?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do not.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
So it's a it's a cruise control where you know,
and I think people now are familiar with adaptive cruise
control where.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
It slows you down as you get behind somebody so
you don't have to keep getting out.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Of correct correct. Love that so much, isn't it great?
So so much. It's a fantastic feature and I love
it a lot. Blue cruise ads hands free, so on
the highway you can be doing highway speed, following a
car in front of you, your hands off the wheel.
It's not autonomous driving, but it does allow you to go.
(02:31):
So I went from here to Portland, Maine, and I
only touched the wheel twice.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
To make you, what'd you do with your hands that
whole time? Was it worth it? It was so totally
worth it. Able to knit?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Yeah, I knitted a sweater on the way up. No,
I you know, it's not quite there.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
So there.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
It's actually monitoring your eye position. So if you're not
paying attention, if you're not looking out the windshield, it
yells at you and tells you, hey, you better pay attention.
And you know, but and there are certain times when
you need to grab the wheels, so like through the
toll Gantria, at the Hampton Tolls, construction zones, things like that.
(03:13):
It'll make you put your hands on the wheel. But
I loved it because, and I think you and I
have talked about this before. With adaptive cruise control, it's
like that takes a mental load off of you when
you're in traffic, you know, heavy traffic. You're drew cruising
along at forty five miles an hour. Now you know
you can you don't have to like constantly gas break,
(03:36):
gas break.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
It's doing that for you.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
And if you want to pass, all you do is
get in the other lane, sorry that that car's not
in front of you, and it goes back up to
what you set the speed in right.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
So blue cruise. What that does also is if you're
driving along and the car in front of you is
not driving at your set speed and there's an empty
lane next to you, it'll say, hey, we can pass
this guy.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Do you want to pass?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
And then you just hit the turn signal and it'll
pull out into the other lane, make the pass, get
you back into the lane, all without having.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
To touch the steering ask you audioly.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
I mean, you know what it prompts you, you know,
like it says something like you know, you know, pass
enabled or whatever it says.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can't remember saying it. Would you like to pass this?
It doesn't ask you a question.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
It just tells you that you know you have the
space to pass, and you you can decide, So you
decide by hitting the turn signal. So you hit the
turn signal, makes the pass, comes back in after it
after it does the pass and keeps going. So I mean,
I really like it. I think it's a it's a
it doesn't feel one hundred percent baked yet that it's
(04:41):
like you can just kind of, you know, not pay attention.
But it's a pretty nice feature on both the Esque
Expedition and the Navigator. So really really impressed with that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Adoptive cruise control. I was wondering this, and I'm glad
you're here. Let's say you space out a little bit,
you listen to.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
A song and you get a little fuzzy, and all
of a sudden, the person in front of your breaks.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Will that prevent you from hitting the car in front?
It will? It will? It'll go right down to zero,
it will. Ye see that that's huge. Yep. Why wouldn't
you have it all the time?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
So you know, I I use it every time I'm
on the highway, Like those features I use all the
time because and I never like cruise control because it
never matched, you know, what the speed of traffic was.
It always seemed like it was so limited when you
could use it. But this you can use all the time.
And I use it all the time, and i've and
(05:38):
I've I've found that I hate traffic less, you know,
because I don't have to put as much effort into
it as as as I used to.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's really something to hate.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Traffic less is a valuable Yeah, yeah, a big value.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I'm not saying I love it, but I do hate
it less.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Speaking of that, just as an aside, I went up
to the White Mountains the other day and I'm going
really pretty early six thirty northbound in ninety three, and
I noticed that there's a traffic jam already.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
It goes from the Tobin to I don't understand, And
I guess I'm just I don't understand. How you live
like that? No, And how do you live like that?
There are many of you do it. I don't mean
it to mean you how I'm asking you, how do you
live like that?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
So my wife, you know, we live in Holliston. She
works UH in Government Center UH and has to go
in there two days a week. She leaves the house
at five thirty in the morning to beat the traffic
in the morning, but on the way out at three
o'clock in the afternoon, it's five o'clock traffic now. And
so there's no time when you can leave this city
(06:49):
except for when I leave here tonight. At you know,
at ten o'clock, I'm not going to hit a lot
of traffic going home. But but any other time it's
gotten brutal.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Do you think it's.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Worth looking insane just to keep polks out of Yes, Like,
what would you recommend?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Would you recommend? Nobody's going to jump on.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
This wagon, but would you And what I would commend
a fee to come in town.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
What I would recommend would be continuing what Governor Baker
wanted to do, which was tell state employees that they
should be working remotely. And and so by taking that
you know, giant volume of people. You know, not everybody
can do it, but most people can. If your job
working an office somewhere, then you can. You don't need
(07:34):
to be able to do is do.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
The job and the boss can tell you did the
job because the job gets done right.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
So that was the plan was for Boston be carbon
neutral by twenty fifty. And the way that they were
going to get there is they were going to stop
people from you know, having a commute every day. And
we have the technology to do that, we have the
ability to do it. People are people have have just
jumped right into it. During COVID, I mean I never
went back to an eye office ever again, so there's
(08:02):
absolutely no reason for a lot of people to be
going in every single day.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I guess a lot of employers have found that people
are more productive when they are in the office, or
there's something they like about it. However, I would say
that if you don't have to have employees in the office,
you could you could be paying so much less in
office state exactly why wouldn't you do that?
Speaker 4 (08:21):
So I think there's a number of things going on.
I think the I think the real estate market is
a little concerned that, you know, all of a sudden,
like you know, Commonwealth of Massachusetts says, hey, we don't
need all these office buildings. We're going to sell off
all of these things. And you know, collectively the price
of real estate, you know, commercial real estate tanks, and
(08:44):
none of the commercial real.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Estate developers want to have that happen. But there has to.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Be some solution to this, because it's impossible to get anywhere,
you know, to get from this is you know, twenty
one miles from here to where I live. That can
take two hours, Like you could walk faster, and there
the trains there, you can always take the train, but
the train's expensive one way or another.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It's fifty five bucks a day.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
So like you know, between trains and parking and you know,
or driving and parking and gas and tolls, it's it
costs her fifty five bucks a day to drive into town,
so and probably around forty to take the train.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Well, folks, I'd like to have you join in now.
We'll take a break, We'll go to Alex and Millie
anything automotive, but we will be getting the information on
what the ten best used cars to buy right now
and talk about how to maybe maximize Black Friday automotively.
And you know the number I believe to call in
six one seven, two five thirty WBSY.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is Nighttime with Dan Ray.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I'm Bradley for Dan tonight and we have Creakvist charge
with us Cara wise guy. He knows cars, and we're
going to talk about ten best used cars to buy
today as well as Black Friday opportunities. And the number
here is six one seven two ten thirty, and we'll
start with Alex and Millis. How's it going, Alex, let
(10:19):
me get you on board there trying to Mike clicker.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
There we go, Pappy.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Thanksgiving guys, How are you happy?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Thanksgiving? To you?
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Hi? Alex, Hey, how you doing? Maybe these are silly questions.
First off, I've never owned a domestic car. I've always
felt that foreign cars are far better engineered. Uh you know,
primarily we've had Toyotas and sugar Rush and you know
I love them. My question was this, have the domestic
(10:49):
cars caught up with foreign cars? And the other question is,
when you change your oil, does it matter what brand
you use? Like my car takes zero twenty since and
if you choose Valvoty or a store brand, does it matter?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Good questions. So, first of all, I mean, I think
you know, you get you got to understand that the
the the automotive industry is very global now.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So you know, if you're.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Saying, you know, Toyota or Subaru is domestic, they're actually
a lot of the Subaru products are built right here.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
They're built in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
So if you buy a Forester right now, those are
built here. They built built several other vehicles here. They
built the outback here up until a year or so ago,
So you know there's there is a lot of domestic
production here. Toyota does the same thing. Mercedes, they all
have plants here, so they're essentially a domestic car at
(11:50):
this A lot of them are a domestic car at
this point. And then also Afford, you know, maybe built
in Mexico and may be built in you know, a
number of different places. So but I do get your point,
and yeah, I think I would say Ford has had
(12:11):
some recall issues over the last couple of years. They've
had a lot of recalls. I don't necessarily have a
problem with that because that's the manufacturer just standing behind
their product. You know, I don't know if how old
you are, but I remember when you bought a Lemon,
you just owned it. You know, there was no Lemon law,
there was no you know, no recalls. It was just
(12:32):
tough luck.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
You you bought the car and you owned it. But
you know, to me, for for a manufacturer stand behind
that product and repair it when you're in for an
oil change, I think that's a great, a great thing.
So I will say, yes, yes, the domestic manufacturers, specifically
Ford and GM, are significantly better than they used to be.
(12:56):
Stilantis not so good. Right at the moment, a lot
of shoes with Stillantis. Now they're sort of perpetually going
out of business. So if it were me, I would
stay away from the Stillantis products. So your second, your
second question on the oil, All oil, you know, sort
of goes through the same rating agency. It goes through
(13:18):
the American Petroleum Institute. So whether it's a store brand
or it's Valvelene, they are usually they come from the
same manufacturer and they are also run through the same
rating agency. So however, I don't think there's any downside
aside from you know what, what's the difference is a
ten dollars of you know, for five game, you know,
(13:41):
for five courts. You know, I would always choose to
go with the name brand. It's just I don't just
think there's any reason not to.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Does that also apply to when you fill up with
gas if you go like if you look for Sonoco
or Mobile, I mean, uh, rather as opposed to non
non brand named gas.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
So I tend to look for top tier gasoline. So
that's actually within brands, they will be rated a top
tier fuel. So you'll find those at Mobile, you'll find
them at Shell, but you can also find them at
like you know, you know, Luke oil stations sometimes have
(14:27):
it too, so like it'll be indicated on the pump,
like this is a top tier fuel?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Heard of this? Yeah, I need to know.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
So again it's an it's the American Petroleum Institute. They
rate a lot of these things, and the top tier
fuels tend to have more detergents and and that kind
of thing in them to keep the fuel system as
clean as possible to burn as efficiently as possible. So
those things, I think, you know you're safe going to,
like I wouldn't. I don't know if i'd necessarily go to, like,
(14:56):
you know, a no name gas station unless I was
driving something from the seventies. You know, see, if you're
driving something from the seventies, kind of doesn't matter what
you put in it.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
But these things are pretty pretty efficient now.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So yeah, good questions, Alex, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
That a good night.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Okay, Now.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
You know, Jay, I'm having issues with my screen here.
I had trouble getting the collar on and now having
trouble dropping whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I'll move on.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
That's a pretty good question. I still don't really understand
the top tier fuel things.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
If I.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Is it different between say mobile stations. Some mobile stations
will have top tier fuel and others won't.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Most of the big brands are going to be top
tier fuels, okay, so you know, they're just sort of
do it as a matter of course.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Something is always good to explain, is why the higher
higher octane matters and what the difference between octane octanes mean.
And as I understand it, it just means the higher
octane is less likely to prematurely explode.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
It's it's causing a knock, right, it's the ignition. Right.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
So, but what the key is is what your car
is designed to run. If your car is if your
car requires premium fuel, you got to put premium fuel
in it. If it's recommended, you can put anything out, Okay,
so you know, and that's you know, tends to be
performance cars.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
So turbosy force cylinder turbot tends to need a premium
because it runs in a higher compression.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Right, correct, Listen to me almost like I know what
I'm It's.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Almost like you've asked me these questions enough and they
have begun again, which is like, you know, like I've
spent twenty five years doing this and I have to
tell people things nine hundred times for the for that
to start to sink in and you.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Start to get irritated with me.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
No, I don't tire questions because I have too many
tire quests.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Question Tonight, All right, six w b Z.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
If you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
This is Nightside Bradley for Dan with Craig Fitzgerald talking
car stuff, and we will get to the ten best
used cars to buy today and talk about Black Friday
car deals.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
First, we go to Anne in Day. Hi. How are
you hi?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Anne?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
How are you hi? What can we do for you?
Speaker 7 (17:30):
Amy?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Oh good, I'm happy. Thanksgiving number one. I don't know
if this is going to be a spoiler, but I
am currently looking to purchase a used car of I've
been approved for a loan, and I'm just really having
a hard time finding something that I deemed decent. And
(17:54):
I guess my question is do you think it's better
to buy at a dealership as opposed to going to
you know, you see those little gas stations or those
little places where people have cars for sale?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Yeah, okay, what's your what's your budget look like? Now
you don't have to tell me like you know, crazy
numbers or anything. But like, are we talking about my budget?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Is?
Speaker 7 (18:19):
My budget is fifteen thousand.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Okay, So so I've told people this before. You only
need one car, right, so it's you know, you're everybody
kind of looks at this like, you know, it's it's
like a daunting process, you know, but you really you
only need one car, and you've just got to find
one that's been fairly well maintained, you know, that hasn't
(18:43):
been in a lot of accidents.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So the nice thing about the dealerships is they will
they usually will offer the car with a car Fax
report that gives you some vehicle history. You know, you
can kind of understand if it's been an accident. Car
Max is getting a lot better about maintenance too, so
if the car has been maintained, you'll see that in
the in the car facts as well. I mean in general,
(19:09):
you know, yeah, you're probably a little bit safer on
a you know, with a larger dealership than you are
with with you know, a gas station that just has
a car for sale.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
But if that car for sale is a good car,
then you know, like it it.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You know, it makes a big difference if it is so,
So I if you're gonna look at cars at you know,
at smaller lots or gas stations and things like that,
I would definitely bring that to somebody and have them
look at it, have them put it up on a lift.
It's gonna cost you a couple hours of labor. It's
well worth a couple hundred bucks to me to have
somebody look at a car before I buy it. So
(19:45):
I would suggest doing that.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So it doesn't matter how bigger dealership, as long as
you take it, get it put up on a lift.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
I And you know a dealership, you know, if they're
a halfway decent sized dealership, they're gonna have a lift
so that you can actually look at the car.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Are and you know, but you got to know what
you're looking at. Company, I'm interested if you put it
on the list. Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
I find that. Unfortunately, at my budget, I'm you know,
kind of looking at cars that are newer with a
whole bunch of mileage correct or an older car with
not so much mileage correct.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I think given the choice of the two, given the
choice of the two, if it's not the technology that
you're interested in, I choose the older car with the
lower mileage as long as it hadn't been in an accident,
you know. But you know, fifteen grand is kind of
a weird you know, like it's a it's a bit
of a whole, I know, because you know, you're everything you're.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Going to look at is going to have over one
hundred thousand miles on it. But I.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
Drive a niss On right now and it's got one
hundred and eighty thousand with no problems whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Right, So so what what model Nissan? It's a rogue okay,
so just out of curiosity. If it's got no issues,
then why do you want to sell it?
Speaker 7 (21:07):
I couldn't said one hundred and eighty thousand miles and
my door handle just broke. And it makes me think
that things are going.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
To start yeah, you know, it's things start getting up
to one hundred and eighty K two hundred K. That's
when things start falling apart a little bit, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
On the other hand, twelve yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
You've gotten your money's worth out of it, you know.
I you know, Bradley and I are going to talk
about best deals and and you know, top picks on
used cars and stuff. And you know, if you tend
to go with the things that you know are popular,
like Rav fours and and the Honda crvs and like,
(21:48):
they tend to be significantly more expensive. So you kind
of like if you can look into like we're going
to talk about Mazda's a little bit, four of the
cars on Consumer Reports Top ten list are Mazda products,
so and I don't think people really pay that much
attention to them.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So if you can find a mask like a c X.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Three, they're a pretty nice car for a lot less
money than you might spend on a Honda or a Toyota.
So you might start looking in that in that direction.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
I will, and I appreciate your advice. My thing is,
I don't want to go back to a car like
I don't want to go back to being feeling like
it's sitting on the ground anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
X five is five because it's kind of tall. Yep. Yeah,
that's about.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
The size of what you're driving now. So the Rogue
kind of fits in between the c X three and
the c X five a little bit. It competes with
the c X three. The c X three is is
kind of small. So Bradley owns a c X five
and it's been very happy with it. You know, they're
uh and you sit up you know high, you know,
(22:56):
just like you wouldn't any other crossover. So I mean,
I I'd suggest taking a look at one of those
for sure.
Speaker 7 (23:03):
Okay, right, well, I thank you so much for your
time and your advice.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Certainly, thanks and six any other automotive questions for us
here on WBZ. Let's get into the you know, top
ten lists. Yep, you said four of them on the
list of miles is that makes me please?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
It? It?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
It was surprising to me because I was like, I
looked at the list and I was you had mentioned
it to me, you know, do you want to talk
about this?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
And I said, yeah, sure, thinking.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
In my head it's going to be the it's like
the greatest hits, you know, like it's going to be
all Toyota and all Honda, and that's going to be
boring to talk about. But four of those vehicles were
mas the X three made the list or I'm sorry, uh,
Maz the six made the list for under ten grand Wow,
which is a that Maz the six is a really
(23:51):
nice car and you can buy it from you know,
sort of the barebones version to the more performance oriented version,
just the way you wouldn't in a you know, Honda Cord.
But that's a really nice car for the money.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And you know, if you can.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Convince you, like I, I am a car person, like
I am not a crossover suv person. So if I
was going to buy a car, that would certainly be
on the list of things that I'd be interested.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
What's your beef with crossovers. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
It's just like I just don't want to look at that.
I don't want to look like everybody else.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
It's like I maybe seventy of the vehicles were a crossovers.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Right right.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
And I don't need I don't need a lot of
cargo volume. I need a trunk, I need a back seat.
It's not like I need a you know, a vehicle
like that to drive around. And I do like cars
that drive like cars. I like the ability to take
a corner and and you know, put some gusto, you know,
(24:51):
and and crossovers don't do that particularly well. They're okay,
but and they're all based on cars, but they all
sit up higher, and as a result, they don't have
the handling prowess to the car.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Don't tell me if this is a problem with me
or a problem with vehicles. I know now with the
tech and such that being able to see through the
back window is not as important as it was. But
so many back seats have headrests that block the window.
There may be eighty percent. I take the head rests.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Off right right what they're required to be there, you
know when when the car is built and it's it's
an unintended consequence of making that requirement that you can't
see out the back window anymore. So Volvo in Mercedes
years ago, when you bought one of their vehicles that
(25:44):
had head rests in it, there was a button on
the dash that you pushed and those head rusts would
fold down so that you could see right out the
back one.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Every time I go somewhere, I have to take off
the seat covered thing on the head rest, pull it
off right so I can see right, and then put
them back when I I don't drive that much. So
then you go up in white mountains and back.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
There's a number of things like there's the requirement for
the headrest, there's a requirement for roof strength when they
do rollover tests, and that is dependent on the size
of the the B and C pillars.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
So I'm really am thankful for that rule because every
time I roll the vehicle over.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Those times tho you've rolled over, Yeah, well the one just.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Flip back and just drive away, just keep going, So
you know, I get it, I understand why. But it
also makes it really hard to see out of these things,
and it makes things like backup cameras and side view
cameras a necessity now, which again, like I don't really
like that, you know, because those things are bound to
(26:47):
break at some point or another. You're bound to not
be able to see out the camera. If it's snowing
or you know, the road salt or whatever, it's going
to distort that view and you're not going to be
able to see out the back. So I would prefer
to be able to actually see out the windows. Another
reason I drive oldering, and it was the anther thing.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I saw a post you posted on LinkedIn where Craig
can be reached, and it was about the difference between
the type of headlights and the heat that generate in
snow and why one might be better than the other.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Right, So everything comes with an led headlight now and
people complain about it.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
We've talked about this before.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
You know, LEDs are much brighter factory LEDs that come
from the automotive manufacturer. They're not blindingly bright, right, it's
the aftermarket LEDs that are the problem. But the issue
that you run into here in the wintertime is that
LED headlamps generate no heat. You can you can touch
(27:50):
the bulb and there's no heat coming.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Out of it. That's how does use much electricity or
advice right? Correct? Most of the electricity uses waste it
off in heat. Correct.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
So when it snows, it's not a waste, it's right exactly.
So it melts, it melts the ice and snow off
of the headlight cover when you run a halogen bulb
in there, because the halogen bulbs created a tremendous amount
of heat. But again, this is one of those unintended consequences.
If you're driving down four ninety five and it's freezing rain,
(28:22):
you're eventually going to be looking through headlights that look
like you have cataracts, right, you can't. It literally builds
up and the light won't go through it. So I've
had to pull over and scrape the headlights off on
some of these vehicles because they just don't get warm enough.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Another example of tech having glitches, as the adaptive cruise
control lens can get covered with snow.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, you shouldn't be using them anyway, as
in the bad weather like the so you know a
lot until we get Lieder, which everybody tells you it's keep,
it's it's coming, it's coming, We're going to get it.
We're not going to get it for the next twenty years.
Light R is actually a sort of a radar system
(29:08):
that actually uses a radar to monitor around the vehicle,
so it sees regardless of the weather conditions. Right now,
you're you're dependent on line of sight, so there are
cameras in the car that are monitoring the vehicles in
front of you, and as snow starts to build up
on the windshield, it just blocks the view of those
(29:29):
things and all of your light lights on the dash
come on to tell you, you know, you can't use
any of these features.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
But folks give us a shout. Six one seven.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I haven't asked an automotive question of Craig Fitzgerald, who
knows what's up when it comes to cars and you
can ask any question, especially one that's looking for a
recommendation on what the best used cars are to buy
right now the Consumer Reports Top ten used car list.
And I have some other questions, and any general questions
(30:01):
are fine, and industry questions are good too. I'm gonna
ask about tariffs and if the political situation in addition
to tariffs, if there's something about the uncertainty in our
political system that might increase prices or affect the automotive industry.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Coming up on.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
WBZ it's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Onward with Craig Fitzgerald, Carr Guy. Any automotive questions.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
This is the time not just about new cars, but
also is your car making a funny noise? How do
you know when it's sound to get rid of your car?
What about winter maintenance? What about how to deal with tires?
I'm a tire fanatic. Six one, seven, four, ten thirty
is our number. We'd love you to join us. Happy Thanksgiving,
(30:47):
It's good to be with the WBZ family. Now let's
get into the Black Friday thing. Are there deals on
Black Friday for cars just like anything else? Or and
now are they real deals or is it smoke and mirrors.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
So it's less of a Black Friday deal than it's
they're coming to the end of the year and they're
looking to sell as many vehicles as they possibly can move.
And this has been a kind of a down year
for the automotive industry. Like we're off pretty much every
(31:20):
month in terms of the number.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Of vehicles sold.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
So I would assume that you could probably do better
getting towards the end of December than you've had, you know,
in current in the last few years. You're probably better
off now. Like there were times in twenty twenty two,
twenty twenty three where I was telling the people like
(31:44):
if you can wait, wait because there's no deals to
be had out there. But it definitely feels like things
are starting to loosen up a little bit. The issue
is that the interest rates are high enough that it's
causing people some issues. You know, they don't want to
pay the interest rate. So that's the thing, is like
combining interest rates with a good deal, that's where you
(32:07):
want to you know, that's where you want to want
to be looking at. I'm not sure who's got any
great finance rates at the moment, but they're you're starting
to see some more rebates come online again.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Those essentially went away for for for a number of years.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
So, so dealership wants to sell a car. Can you
walk in there and they have a price, can you go?
Can you say to them, you know, I know you're
not selling any cars.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Yeah, give me a deal. I want to I want
this car, all right, I want to drive away.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I want to make a deal. I want to feel
good about the deal. So I want to drive this
car away. What can you do for me? And you
say that exactly right?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean you know, you want to
know what their best what their best number is. And
a lot of people are doing that on the phone,
like they're calling ahead. They're like, hey, look, you know
I saw that you have this car that I want.
I am interested in this car. And just like Ann
from Worcester was talking about, she got financing time. So
she's all set to go like she's financed, she's a
(33:04):
she's a solid buyer. Now you may get in the
dealership and they say, hey, look, you know if you
finance with us, we can get you an even better deal.
I'd let them have that conversation with me for sure,
knowing that I still had in my pocket, I'm still
financed for fifteen grand.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Then, of course trying to make up that on giving
you a bad trade in You have to be aware, you.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Got to be aware of trade. And honestly, I don't
you know, the trade is a real convenience, but I
don't know why people do it like you.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
You've lost half special You're a car guy. You know
you're used to putting stuff, selling him buying. Yeah, I guess,
I mean, I definitely am. I mean I would never
trade anything. I'd always sell it out.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
How do you do?
Speaker 4 (33:48):
You don't put it out on the lawn with a sign.
I would put it out on the lawn with this.
I've done it all I've got. I've put it out
on the line with a sign. I put it up
on Facebook, Marketplace, I I've put things on auction sites.
What else have I done? Marketplace? Oh, I've gone to
(34:08):
like swap meets, you know sol cars there.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Okay, So what is it set a net gain from
that you would realize selling it yourself versus it's half
you've lost. You're losing half the money on the vehicle.
I don't care what kind of trade deal they want
to give you. You're losing half the money on a
trade at a dealership. That's solid advice, you know, like I,
(34:34):
what is that likely to mean?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Dollar amount? Just worth the hassle?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
So so two thousand dollars yeah, right, that's what you got.
That's what you have to that's the math you.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Need to do for yourself. Is the convenience with two
thousand bucks?
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Right, that's what it is, right, And for me it
always is. You take so much offering and saying I'll
give you a good example. My daughter, My daughter had
that the Wrangler that I was driving for a while. Right,
it was a two thousand and three. It was beat
up by the time she got done with it. She'd
driven it for three or four years. I got we
we sold that on Facebook marketplace to the second person
(35:12):
that came to looked at it. They gave her forty
five hundred dollars for it. That would have been maybe
one thousand dollars vehicle on a trade.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
So wow, So you had to decide one would have
to decide in this case, is it worth three thousand
dollars for the hassle of selling it myself? Yes, it
was totally worth it since it only would take what
really four or five hours to sell yourself.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Really, Yeah, so that's like five hundred bucks.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
So here's here's what I did. I washed it, I
detailed it. It looked great.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Yes, it's almost worth paying two hundred totally totally a
hundred bucks again in detail, yep.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
I took a ton of pictures. I must have taken
twenty pictures of it that I posted on the on
the marketplace ad.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
People think if you take a lot of pictures, you're
proud of it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Absolutely, And it also answers a lot of questions for them,
what's the interior look like? I can't tell you how
many cars I've looked at online with one picture like,
I'm not even gonna go look at that, so like
take the time to do that one picture in bad light? Yeah, exactly,
And for me, it was totally worth it.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Jay, let's talk to Richard in Cambridge. We have a
couple of minuteshigh Richard, Ahi, Richard and Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (36:20):
We are I have an interesting problem that I'm trying
to get resolved. I have a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Limited
twenty twenty, which has had a problem in that the
car constantly dies. You parked the car, come back an
hour later, it's dead. And it's got a secondary problem
(36:44):
in which the hybrid has suddenly lost mileage. It's now
giving me miles per gallon in the twenties instead of
the forties. So there is now two tsbs out on
this particular issue. And I have taken this to Ford
deal and none of them will agree to fix the car.
And I've actually called Hyundi corporate and the very nice
(37:08):
lady on Deliver into the phone says, oh, that's not
my department. You'll have to call somebody else. And I said,
do I have a phone number? And she goes no.
So my question is how do I get this car
fixed under warranty the way it should be. There's about
fifty thousand miles on that's it.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Yeah, because that's got a ten year, one hundred thousand
mile powertrain warranty right right, So you know the it's
the it's the dealership's responsibility to it. Like you've brought
it to four dealers. What was the result from there?
They basically told you there was nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:47):
Yeah, They put some little magic machine on the back
of the car and they go, oh, the numbers are
all okay, we can't do anything about it. And the
symptoms okay, the symptoms are exactly the same as our
lined in the TSB is that there's a battery drain
going on in the battery which requires replacement. And the
(38:08):
second one.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Is it the hybrid battery or the or the starting battery.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
It's the twelve vote battery, which is lithium ion in
this car, which is placed inside the hybrid. Why they
did that, I have no idea, but that's where they
put it, and the dealer apparently doesn't want to bother
or fix it because whatever the reason, what we're going.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
To do is to get to the news top of
the out break and everyone think about what the problem
might be, and Craig will address this problem at the
other side of this break. So that's something to look
forward to. Everybody think, hmm, what could it be and
see how close you can come. And we'll continue on
WBZ after this. It's great to be here with Craig
Fitzgerald's and we're going to have the King of Thanksgiving
(38:54):
later on. Think about who that might be. That's all
coming up here on WBZ News Radio ten thirty
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