By K.S. Wang Quick Stats: Loni Love comic/host The Real Daily Driver: 2019 Lexus NX 300h (Lonis rating: 9 on a scale of 1 to 10) Favorite road trip: Los Angeles to Las Vegas Car she learned to drive in : 1970s Chevy Impala First car bought: 1993 Geo Spectrum Comic and co-host of The Real , Loni Love is a long way from her 18-hour days at the General Motors factory, where she started working as soon as she finished high school. I have more respect for cars because back then when I was working at the General Motors plant, it was an assembly plant. This is before robotics; I used to have to build car doors. They called it the tram, Love says of her job. I cant remember the car, it used to have carpeting, and you would have to put the trim in the door. It was a carpet, and youd put the door handle, the window handle, you would put that in, and we used to do 500 a day. The Detroit native still recalls the long shifts at GM. We used to work Monday through Friday 18 hours a day, 10 hours on Saturday, and eight hours on Sunday, and thats what made me decide, You know what? Im going to college, she tells MotorTrend , with a laugh. After six months at the plant, she went to college and earned a degree in electrical engineering. While she was in college, Love also had a summer internship with Ford in Flint. I have a big respect for cars, and I have a love for them. People take it for granted when they look at the design and all the people that it takes to make it, she says. Thats why when I selected my car, I really wanted to select something that was about the design and the technology. Thats why I picked a hybrid, and this design is very sleek. Love did a lot of research before she bought her 2019 Lexus NX 300h hybrid, which she rates a 9 out of 10. I like that it handles like a smaller car. The drive is really smooth, which is what I need, but it still gives me the power of a luxury vehicle, she says. When youre driving in L.A. the way I drive and because Im a stand-up comic, I have to do a lot of road gigs. So it was best for me to invest in something that was comfortable, and it gives me everything that I need with the technology. This is Loves first new car. I wanted a luxury-type vehicle because ever since Ive been a stand-up comic, Ive always had used cars and your basic standard get-by type of car, and then once I got my TV show, I just wanted to treat myself and try something different, she says. I really liked what this car had to offer, with this being part hybrid and everything I needed. Thats why I decided to choose a Lexus . Car she learned to drive in The first car Love learned to drive in was her uncles old Chevy Impala, which she says was probably a 1971 or 1972 model. It was huge, she says, laughing. I felt like I was learning how to drive in a ship. It was hilarious. Once you learn how to drive in a car that big, you can drive a bus. She grew up in Detroit, and all her friends had cars, so she learned how to drive from them. My mom was in a really bad car accident, and she never bought a car. She never learned how to drive after her accident, so I had to rely on my friends, my uncle, and my family. Love learned to drive early. Back in the day, my uncle would let me just drive to the store, she says. Im 13 driving to the store, while hes on the side listening to music and stuff. It was just like, OK, Im going to teach you how to drive. Come one, lets go to the store, she says, with a laugh. So that really was my first experience, and thats how I learned actual on-the-road driving: my uncles driving school, which was not an official driving school. It wasnt until Love rented a car for a gig while she was in college that she first drove on a highway. My uncle never took me on the freeway even after I got my license. So that was an experience for me, actually riding on a freeway when I rented a car. I thought it was the most exhilarating thing ever because it was like the speed limit was 55, and Id never driven that fast before. I still remember the expression on my face; I just felt so free driving like that, she says. I dont know why I still remember that. Love learned to drive a car with a manual transmission when she and a classmate drove from college in Texas back to Detroit for winter break. She had a stick shift. It was that new Dodge Neon, so I had to learn how to drive as we were driving. It took 36 hours from Texas to Detroit, and by the time I was done, I knew how to drive a stick shift, she says. It was just the two of us, so, pressure. I had to learn, I had to do it. First car bought While she was in college, Love bought a four-door 1993 Geo Spectrum with money she'd earned from gigs. It was baby blue, Ill never forget, and I put tinted windows on it because I was in college. I started doing stand-up in school, so I had side money, and I used that money to help pay my car note. Back then my car was maybe $300 a month because it was basic; it didnt have anything, she laughs. It was stick shift; it was just the car. It was so basic, but thats how I paid for it. I wished we had had Uber back then, because I would have been Ubering for days to pay for it. At her Ford internship, Love would often talk to engineers around her. The thing that always amazed me working at those companies is that they had these great concept cars. I thought it was amazing that these concept cars were really fast. I always asked questions of the engineers at the time. Why dont you guys build them? They said, We dont have the roads to handle them. I always thought it was interesting we have engineering minds that engineer things, but we dont have the infrastructure to handle it. Love is thankful for that early experience in the auto industry that also gave her valuable skills. I liked the fact I was able to understand cars. It really helped me out working in the auto industry early on because I was able to change my own oil, change my tires. I knew how to take care of a car, she says. So that did help me once I got into college. And it helped me to help my friends because they didnt know about cars. She got the chance to go back to the same GM plant for a show on BET. It was long hours at the General Motors assembly, and 20 years later they had me go back to the same plant, and the technology has changed, she says. I was fascinated at how now you have robotics, you have fewer people. She also noticed the work area had improved. When we were there, even just painting a car, you had all these toxins. There was a lot of dirt. But I noticed when I went back it was a lot cleaner. I think thats good for the workers. You had the paint area; you had to be in full hazmat back in the day, she remembers. Now its really changed to where they really progressed in 20 years with making cars. I find that fascinating. After college, Love worked at Xerox in Los Angeles. Once I graduated, I had seven job offers. Of course, General Motors was one, but I ended up taking a job at Xerox because it was in L.A., she says. One day she went to the Comedy Store, where there was only one female comic, and that inspired her to get back into stand-up. She did it while also doing her day job for eight years, until she got her first deal. The catalyst to becoming a full-time stand-up came when Love had the chance to save a co-workers job. I was moving up in the ranks of engineering. I was a project engineer, but I had this deal with HBO. Then we had a layoff. I went to my boss, I said, Please save somebodys job and lay me off. So thats how I got out of being an engineer and moved over into entertainment. Favorite road trip I love any road trip going to Vegas, she says. If I have a gig in Vegas, I like to drive. Its a short drive, and I usually like to drive at night because its dead dark and then when you see the lights in Vegas, for me, it does something to me when I see the lights. Love usually starts the drive to Vegas at 10 or 11 p.m. Its like youre driving through this darkness and you see all these lights, and it reminds me of the people and technology and how were living beings and stuff, she says. I know it sounds weird, but I love taking that trip, and I like to see the Vegas lights. Love got used to driving at night on those drives from Texas to Detroit while she was in college. You get a special type of relationship driving at night because you see the truckers. When I used to drive from Texas to Detroit and it was during the holiday break, it was December, the weather would be bad in some places, and I could remember you could get behind an 18-wheeler and its like you get this relationship where you start driving with somebody, and its like a special relationship, she says. Its funny, its hard to describe, but its something that happens. You kind of protect each other when youre doing long-distance driving. So I learned to adjust to it, and I like driving at night because you can think and listen to music. For me its therapeutic and I enjoy it. The Real on September 16 and Caf Mocha on radio Season six of The Real starts up again on September 16, but Love has been busy for the summer, including being the first female comedian hosting the main stage for the whole time at the Essence Festival in July. View this post on Instagram Ill be performing at @levityoxnard September 20th-21st. Tix available here: http://bit.ly/Loni-Oxnard A post shared by Loni Love (@comiclonilove) on Sep 10, 2019 at 10:04am PDT I really like the fact that on The Real we tape and we end right before summer. I have four months, I do different gigs, and I get to reconnect with my live audience. Thats what I like about the schedule I have, so I can do the old road trips, she says, laughing. I have so much going on. I have a weekly weekend radio show called Caf Mocha radio. Its every weekend and its music and I interview people. Im a Weight Watchers ambassador. Its just all happening. For more information, please visit LoniLove.com READ MORE CELEBRITY DRIVES HERE: Check Out Johnny Van Zants 1955 Chevrolet Truck A VelociRaptor, Ferrari , and Range Rover Share Jason Bonhams Incredible Garage Why Country Star Rodney Atkins Loves His Silverado and International Scout Why 311s Nick Hexum Loves His Tesla Model 3 More Than the 911 He Had What Chicago's James Jimmy Pankow Likes About His Bentley Continental GT The post Comic Loni Love Gets Excited About the Lexus NX 300h's Design and Tech appeared first on MotorTrend .