Weekly Top 3: Pleasantly Surprised
This week's column comes courtesy of item (1) below, which has blown our collective mind with its all-around competence. Used to be that automakers would take years or even decades to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but now we see revolutionary changes occurring from one model cycle to the next. Hyundai started it, and now other automakers are following suit. I can think of three, that's right, three recent cars in particular that we've found to be enormously better than expected.
3. 2010 Suzuki Kizashi
As our token Canadian confirmed in a recent First Drive, the new Kizashi midsize sedan is a remarkable leap forward for a brand better known for its motorcycles. The interior is Volkswagen-nice (for those of you who haven't been in a VW since the 1990s, trust me, that's high praise), the ride/handling balance is Euro-sophisticated, and the overall look is upscale. Not bad for a company that has never built a competitive midsize sedan.
2. 2010 Buick LaCrosse
This is quite possibly the most randomly excellent car ever. I don't even think GM realized it had a potential stateside hit on its hands -- the new LaCrosse was designed for Buick-loving Chinese drivers, and the initial US marketing campaign was practically nonexistent. Yet the LaCrosse has one of the nicest GM interiors in recent memory, it handles shockingly well, and it rides like a proper Buick but with a welcome injection of composure. This is the car GM should be hyping instead of the mediocre-minus Cadillac SRX luxury crossover.
1. 2010 Kia Forte SX
Alright, Kia. Something's going on here. I went on the Forte first drive in Seattle back in June and had a chance to drive the top-of-the-line Forte SX, and I came away distinctly unimpressed. Body roll, squealing tires, eager understeer, sluggish throttle response -- this thing was sport-tuned in name only. But that was a preproduction model. We've got a production Forte SX in the garage now, and I'm not even kidding, it's a revelation. Excellent grip, good body control, highly responsive steering...someone at Kia obviously decided that the SX needed to get its act together. Check this out -- the Forte shot through our slalom course at 67.3 mph, outpacing the brilliant Mazda 3 s hatchback by about 1 mph. Much respect to Kia for listening to criticism and making significant changes on the fly. That's part of what makes revolution possible.
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor
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- Josh Sadlier October 30, 2009, 3:00 AM
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When are you gonna give up on the SRX argument? Everyone else likes the vehicle but you. I've driven it and other than average acceleration, it's an excellent crossover. You are smoking...
Good to hear about the Forte and Kizashi. Especially the Forte, I like the look of that car.
Regarding the LaCrosse: I recently had a brand new one as a rental for about a week. And I thought it was quite good. The transmission was reluctant to downshift at times, throttle response was very tepid, and the steering was too light for my tastes. I can understand all of that though because its a car built more for the luxury minded driver who wants a comfortable cruiser. I thought it played to its intended market very nicely. It really soaked up the road bumps on my trip too.
The interior was very quiet and the materials were nice. My only real complaint is that the steering wheel is too hard. I believe mine was the CSX with the 3.0L engine. It came with a leather(ish) substance surrounding a wheel composed of what must have been vibranium. Or maybe granite that had been compressed inside of a black hole, then extracted and cast into wheel shape. Either way that steering wheel was very uncomfortable in my hands. It was so hard and tactilely unappealing, that I couldn't stand to grip it for any length of time (I spent 12 hours on the interstate in the car over the course of a weekend with the rest of the week commuting and running errands).
So yeah, other than a steering wheel that didn't feel right for me (and that could just be me) I thought it was a nice car.
Wonderful, I was so saddened to hear early negative reviews about the Forte because it looks so nice inside and out and provides so much for the money. The Kizashi has me rather excited too...I must like to root for the underdog.