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Kia Seltos, electric Cadillac and a looming Bronco | Autoblog Podcast #615

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder, and Associate Editor Byron Hurd makes his ABP debut. This week, they start with the cars they've been driving: the Jaguar XE, Kia Seltos, Hyundai Venue and Ford Escape. Then they dig into the news, including an upcoming Cadillac EV, Lincoln and Chevy sedans and the Ford Bronco. Finally, they help a listener replace his Jeep Patriot in the Spend My Money segment. Autoblog Podcast #615 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: Jaguar XE 300 R-Dynamic S Kia Seltos Hyundai Venue Ford Escape Cadillac bringing EV to New York Auto Show Chevy and Lincoln dealers say they still want sedans Ford tells dealers the Bronco is weeks away from its global debut Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: 2020 Ford Escape 2.0T #POV drive

2018 Kia Stinger GT Quick Spin Review | Running the diaper-to-racetrack gamut

Considering I'm about to throw a bunch of caveats, small gripes, and unflattering anecdotes about this car at you, I want to preface this by saying the rear-wheel-drive Stinger GT does enough well that I actually spent some time with the configurator building one to, perhaps, serve as a family car that can haul ass as well as a bunch of stuff. And people, too, in five-person comfort, with an infant child seat in the mix. There's a lot of bargain-basement Audi S7 appeal to the thing, and it feels even quicker than its 0-60 number of 4.7 seconds would indicate. Another highlight: the Brembo brakes, 13.8 inches up front clamped by four-piston calipers, and 13.4 inches in the rear. They are superb. The liftback is a nice touch, adding some extra capacity without a wagon profile that would make it allergic to sales. I put it through a daunting real-world test: a big stroller, a giant box of diapers, two backpacks, two rolling suitcases, and a couple armfuls of baby toys. With a little creative stacking it all went in without causing passenger compartment intrusion. With further rearrangement, there was even room to deal with a truly distressing diaper crisis — the GT dealt elegantly with this inelegant situation. The Ceramic Silver paint (one of a frustratingly slim selection of exterior colors) didn't dull the Stinger GT's impact much. It's one of the most handsome and understated colors available, and even so, it drew a lot of attention. Fresh from baby-carrying (and changing) duties, I took it to a SCCA Track Night in America event at the Ridge circuit near Shelton, Wash., where the liftback cargo area swallowed a tub full of tools and a racing helmet with plenty of room to spare. Hell, a set of four rims with track tires could've fit, too. Despite a strong field of interesting cars in attendance, everyone wanted to ask about the Stinger. I feel this color dampens some of the car's over-styling — it would look just as aggressive with fewer faux vents — and displays the unconventional taillights well. Speaking of Track Night, after about an hour of track time spread over three individual sessions (not bad for just $150), the Stinger GT never felt fully comfortable in its dynamic skin. It had the scoot to top 130 mph on the front straight, and the brakes to haul it down before a super fun series of uphill S-curves immediately afterwards. However, certain situations caught the Stinger out.

A verified hit, Kia Soul EV will come to new markets

Today at the Chicago Auto Show, Kia introduced a new off-road Trailster plug-in concept, but the real-world news was all about how the Soul EV will be traveling to places it hasn't gone before. When Kia introduced the Soul EV in Chicago last year, it said that the car would some day be available in five states: California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. Today, company executives said the car will be coming to more markets – they just declined to mention where, exactly. The Soul EV is currently sold in just 17 dealerships in California, Orth Hedrick, vice president of product planning at Kia Motors America, told AutoblogGreen. "For the next stage, we were originally planning on hitting the east coast, but we are changing that around a little bit. You'll see more availability," he said. Hedrick said that the change was prompted by the simple fact that the Soul is attracting new customers. "We went back to the factory and told them it's doing very well and it's now expanded beyond an EV, it's something bigger," he said. "It's helping us get a dialogue with completely new, different customer that we normally wouldn't see in a Kia store. So we would like the opportunity to take it further." We asked if customer interest in the compliance car caught the company off guard. Hedrick said that wasn't quite the right way to look at the history of the Soul EV. "When we looked at it originally, we were trying to go beyond the compliance part," he said. "We understood, of course, that we had to do it, but we wanted to showcase something that was really strong for us, which is the Soul, and we thought it would help build out the Soul family and bring more people to see us and that's exactly what's happening. It was a little more than compliance but I think we were kind of shocked how well it was received. It's been a huge hit." "Huge" in this case means bigger than Kia's original production capacity estimates, he said, without getting into specifics. It was "significantly more than what we originally planned for," he said. The Soul EV is built in Korea and the car is sold there, the US and will be coming to Europe as well. "I don't think they're in a position to ramp up quickly," Hedrick said, "They're in the process of ramping up more and we'll have an announcement, we hope, by New York, about where we're going to go to." The New York Auto Show media days start April 1, 2015.