July 2, 2009
A few days ago I heard Oldham complaining about the steering feel in the 750i. He said it felt too artificial, too light and just plain screwed up.
I thought for sure he was nuts. Every time I drove the big 7 it felt fine to me. A little light maybe, but not anywhere near as awful as Oldham was making it out to be. Then I got in the 1 Series last night and before I had even left the parking garage I knew what he was talking about.
The steering is the 135i is dead on. Sure, it feels a tad heavy at parking lot speeds, but it's all in the name of road feel. Get up to speed and it lightens up perfectly and it never leaves you guessing. Why our 2008 1 Series would have better steering that our 2009 7 Series is a little puzzling, but Oldham was right on this one.
Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor, Inside Line @ 23,706 miles
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- Posted by: Ed Hellwig July 2, 2009, 11:29 AM
- Categories: 2008 BMW 135i
Our Hyundai Genesis' iDrive-like audio/nav controller is located right next to the front cupholders. Normally, this is just fine. However, the close proximity of electronics to the cupholders could be a problem if you were to spill a beverage. Or, even better, you might bring in a bottle of soda, shake it up real good and then open it right above the front cupholders.
Who would be so foolish to do that? Well, me, it seems.
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- Posted by: Brent Romans July 2, 2009, 11:07 AM
- Categories: 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6
This morning on the way to work I realized that our $42,080 long-term 2009 Ford Flex Limited does not have auto up and down windows. Only the driver's window has the feature. The other three aren't auto up or down.
The fact that I haven't noticed this until now (the Flex has more than 26,000 miles on it) tells me this isn't a big deal, but I still find it disappointing in such an expensive vehicle.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
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- Posted by: Scott Oldham July 2, 2009, 10:48 AM
- Categories: 2009 Ford Flex Limited
Just look at it. Probably one of the prettiest engines out there. No lame plastic covers over the entire engine, just a small plastic "frame" emblazoned with the Audi logo around in the intake manifold.
Just staring at it you can hear rock guitar riffs blasting at 11, a chorus of angles singing or the theme of Jaws playing in the background. Yes, I think it's that pretty.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
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- Posted by: July 2, 2009, 10:39 AM
- Categories: 2009 Audi S5
Got to love the 21-inch tires on our FX50 AWD, right? The 265/45R21 Bridgestone Duelers help the FX deliver on its hot-rod promise, something to give it the wild look that everyone always liked about the 2002 BMW X5 4.6is. Makes the FX look like a lunar rover powered by a NASCAR engine. Which is a worthwhile thing, actually.
Trouble is, when you're driving along, these tires boom like four big drums against every seam in the road. It'll drive you crazy on any stretch of concrete slabs. And not just like a drum, because they really are drums, resounding with every impact. Sounds like someone slapping a truck inner tube with a stick. Not that there are so many truck inner tubes around anymore, nor kids to play with them in backyard swimming pools.
Good thing the Infiniti FX50 has a good audio system to keep you from noticing. But this is a thing at Nissan, a tendency to let some egregious flaw make it through into production as long as the behavior is masked by something else. Like the weak fresh-air intake into the FX50 because it's assumed the air-conditioning will be running the whole time anyway.
Michael Jordan, Executive Editor @ 15,250 miles
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- Posted by: Michael Jordan July 2, 2009, 8:00 AM
- Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD, Vehicles
This is a sad day in the world of Suzuki service. Over a month ago we special ordered a part to extinguish the airbag light on our SX4's dash. Our service advisor at Cerritos Suzuki informed us it would likely take 2-3 weeks for its arrival. That timeline had come and gone. So we contacted the dealer again.
"I'm very sorry, sir. Your order was suspended. You may want to order parts elsewhere."
Shocked as to why the order was cancelled and we weren't notified I dug deeper. What did order parts elsewhere mean? They owed us an explanation. But his polite, matter-of-fact response made me feel a little guilty for asking.
"Sir, parts are on hold because there is question as to how much longer this will be a Suzuki dealership."
Oh. Well, that sucks for everyone involved. Back to square one.
(And yes, that bench is as crooked as it looks)
Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager @ 7,611 miles
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- Posted by: Mike Schmidt July 2, 2009, 7:14 AM
- Categories: 2009 Suzuki SX4
Yep, that's me chilling out while the Civic GX gets filled up with clean natural gas at our local station. With only a quarter tank remaining, it took 24 minutes before I finally gave up and stopped the pump. Before explaining that, lets go back a bit.
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- Posted by: JRiz July 2, 2009, 6:23 AM
- Categories: 2007 Honda Civic GX
I'm driving our long-term Mazda 6 up the coast to the MotoGP race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend with the wife. Should be a perfectly peaceful few days interrupted only occassionally by the 17,000-rpm shriek of grand prix motorcycles.
I'll fill you in on the trip next week.
Josh Jacquot, Senior road test editor
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- Posted by: Josh Jacquot July 2, 2009, 6:00 AM
- Categories: 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring
Say what you want about the Honda Civic, but there's no denying the vehicle's range. You want a cheap A to B sedan? No problem. An inexpensive, fun, little coupe? Got it. A Hybrid? Sure. One that runs on Natural Gas? Okay. A hot rod? Yup.
Basically there's a Civic for everybody and everything. And so I thought it would be fun to compare the track test numbers of the Civic's two extremes, our long-term Civic GX, which drinks (or is it inhales?) compressed natural gas and the Civic Si, which is known for eating American musclecars.
Both are front-wheel drive and powered by four-cylinders and both cost about $25,000, but the GX is powered by a 113 hp 1.8-liter engine while the Si is packing a 197 hp 2.0-liter. Oh, and the GX uses a 5-speed automatic transmission. The Si of course get six-speed manual.
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- Posted by: Scott Oldham July 2, 2009, 5:00 AM
- Categories: 2007 Honda Civic GX
July 1, 2009
We've added a new 2010 Honda Insight to our long-term test fleet.
It has a 1.3-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine capable of 88 horsepower and 88 lb-ft of torque and an electric motor that generates 13 hp and 58 lb-ft of torque. We should be able to get up to 30 mph before the gasoline engine kicks in.
We chose the EX trim level with a navigation system and pretty blue metallic paint.
You may remember that many moons ago we had a quirky 2000 Honda Insight two-seater in our long-term fleet.
Ten years down the road, this new Insight has four doors and a back seat and takes direct aim at the popular Toyota Prius. Perhaps Honda shoulda renamed it the Hindsight.
Read the Introduction of the 2010 Honda Insight on Inside Line.
More photos after the jump...
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
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- Permalink | Comments (48)
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- Posted by: Donna DeRosa July 1, 2009, 9:05 PM
- Categories: 2010 Honda Insight EX
It's been two months since I last drove our Honda Civic GX, and unlike most of my colleagues, I'm actually looking forward to getting back behind the wheel.
I've enjoyed the natural gas-fueled Civic ever since I started using it back in October of 2007 for most of my daily commuting between my home in Orange and Edmunds' offices in Santa Monica - not because it's a particularly exciting car to drive but because it is the ideal Southern California long-distance commuter car.
It comes with a single occupant car-pool lane sticker, which cuts about an hour a day from my 100 mile-plus round trip; it's saved hundreds of dollars on fuel and, with a Phill home fueling unit in my garage (thank you, boss!) I don't have to worry about where my next tank will come from.
And consider this: Fuel consumption has averaged 32.8 mpg over the last 19,000 miles, and the average cost of fillingl its tank from the home natural gas pump is a mere $1.22 per gasoline gallon-equivalent. That's for both the natural gas and the electricity to compress and pump it.
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- Posted by: John O'Dell July 1, 2009, 5:04 PM
- Categories: 2007 Honda Civic GX
Last night on my commute home, I pulled up to a red light behind a woman in a BMW 3 Series. It's a long light so I looked down to play with the A/C controls for about 6 seconds.
When I looked back up she was waiting for me so I could see she was giving me the finger.
I gestured to her to say "What's your problem?" But she just kept staring daggers at me in the rear view mirror. So, I smile politely and continued singing along with The Who. But I kept trying to think why she was so mad at me. I didn't cut her off. I wasn't driving anywhere near her until I got to the light.
The only thing I can think of is that the brakes on the BMW 750i are very touchy. When I stopped behind her the car jerked a little. If fact, I have a hard time coming to a smooth stop in the 750i even when I try to baby the pedal. I wasn't very close behind her but I think it made her assume I came flying up to the light and slammed on my brakes at the last second.
Or maybe she was just nuts.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
- Permalink | Comments (33)
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- Posted by: Donna DeRosa July 1, 2009, 3:50 PM
- Categories: 2009 BMW 750i
Our Mazda 6 may not have the V6, but it is all ate up with tech options, including Bluetooth audio streaming. This lets you play music on your Bluetooth-streaming compatible phone/device through the Mazda 6's audio system. This may appear novel now, but by the time we've all got our lives on an iThing, we'll scratch our heads at cars lacking this feature. It's just audio for now, but video streaming to your nav systems display is the next stop down the planned-obsolescence highway.
We've also got the Sirius (now Sirius/XM) satellite radio option on the 6, which not only lets you rewind live content, but allows you to set up alerts across the Sirius channel lineup in case a song you really like is playing on another channel. When the song begins to play on another channel, an alert pops up on the screen, and you can push the icon to go right to it, then listen to and rewind and re-listen to that song as much as you like.
I only discovered this feature on the way home last night when an alert popped up. What song had inspired someone to track it down across the wide span of digital airwaves that is satellite radio? What tune could not be missed? The Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow.
Paul Seredynski, Edmunds ExecutiveEditor
- Permalink | Comments (6)
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- Posted by: Paul Seredynski July 1, 2009, 3:42 PM
- Categories: 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring
Below are the fuel economy numbers for June 2009. We've listed the best, worst and overall average tanks.
As always, we were missing a few cars that were out of town or unavailable at the time of this writing. I'll continue to add them as they come in and let you know in the comments.
| |
Car |
Best
|
Worst
|
Average
|
| |
2009 Audi A4 Avant |
26.8
|
17.5
|
21.9
|
| |
2009 Audi S5 |
22.3
|
11.3
|
18.0
|
| |
2008 BMW 135i |
27.7
|
13.9
|
19.8
|
| |
2009 BMW 750i |
21.8
|
12.4
|
17.9
|
| |
2002 BMW M3 |
23.5
|
12.3
|
17.5
|
| |
2009 BMW M3 |
20.5
|
12.7
|
16.1
|
| |
2009 Ford Flex Limited |
26.7
|
13.7
|
19.2
|
| |
2008 Ford Focus SES |
40.6
|
16.6
|
26.7
|
| |
2007 Honda Civic GX |
47.3
|
12.7
|
31.6
|
| |
2009 Honda Fit Sport |
39.0
|
24.9
|
31.0
|
| |
2009 Hyundai Genesis |
24.4
|
14.3
|
20.4
|
| |
2009 Infiniti FX50 |
21.8
|
10.7
|
16.9
|
| |
2009 Mazda 6 |
29.3
|
19.4
|
23.5
|
| |
2008 Mitsubishi Evo X GSR |
22.6
|
11.0
|
17.0
|
| |
2009 Nissan 370Z |
24.4
|
13.7
|
17.9
|
| |
2009 Nissan GT-R |
21.8
|
11.5
|
16.4
|
| |
2008 Smart Fortwo Passion |
43.4
|
23.5
|
33.6
|
| |
2009 Suzuki SX4 |
28.3
|
18.6
|
22.5
|
| |
2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI |
43.0
|
28.0
|
34.6
|
After the jump you can see the list sorted by best average MPG.
Continue reading...
- Permalink | Comments (15)
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- Posted by: Donna DeRosa July 1, 2009, 3:16 PM
- Categories: 2002 BMW M3, 2007 Honda Civic GX, 2008 BMW 135i, 2008 Ford Focus SES Coupe, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR, 2008 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe, 2009 Audi A4 Avant, 2009 Audi S5, 2009 BMW 750i, 2009 BMW M3, 2009 Ford Flex Limited, 2009 Honda Fit Sport, 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6, 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD, 2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring, 2009 Nissan 370Z Touring, 2009 Nissan GT-R, 2009 Suzuki SX4, 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Early in the selling process for the 2008 Cadillac CTS we wrote about how a woman emailed us with an offer for $20,000.
She wrote: I could/would go 20k on the cad. off the mark I know, but what the hell.
Some of the people who commented agreed with this woman saying that our Caddy wasn't worth anything close to the $28,500 we were asking.
Well, I'm here to seek vindication for Edmunds.com TMV and for the "Cad." We just closed a deal for it at $27,500.
Here are the details.
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- Permalink | Comments (26)
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- Posted by: Philip Reed July 1, 2009, 2:33 PM
- Categories: 2008 Cadillac CTS V6 DI
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