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Thanks to fadetoblackii for this week's favorite caption.
Some other good ones:
After 16,274 miles, our paint began fading. Perhaps we should have waxed it once or twice.
Aw man...the dealer said this isn't covered under the warranty.
Clearly the best car money can buy.
It's a good thing we paid extra for that clearcoat.
What was your favorite?
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
It turns out that increasing the brawn of our Long-Term 2008 Evo GSR project car made it faster.
In its earlier state of tune consisting of AMS intake and plumbing, intercooler, exhaust and reflash, Project Evo X was a very quick car. To refresh your memory, here's the lowdown on its previous performance:
Acceleration
0-30: 1.7
0-45: 3.1
0-60: 4.4
0-60 (with 1-foot of rollout like on a dragstrip): 4.1
0-75: 6.5
1/4 mile (ET / MPH ) 12.8 @ 107.2
And here's how fast Project Evo X went once it received Cosworth MX1 cams and dyno tuning by Road Race Engineering:
Nothing makes me relish a Friday more than opening up the sunroof to soak in the warm and beautiful weather. And it's January! January! It's gorgeous outside. Sigh, I love sunroofs. Now if only this car had seat heaters, too. Heh.
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor
As the economy continues to sputter, we here at the Long-Term Blog are turning our attention to burning questions that are in tune with these troubled times. Such as the following:
Which is better, the GT-R's dual-clutch automated manual transmission or Porsche's new PDK?
I'd like to leave aside the question of durability, since we've just reported that less than one percent of GT-Rs have experienced the infamous transaxle failure. But Nissan's eliminating launch control from future GT-Rs, so there must be something to it. As for PDK, it can weather 40 consecutive launches without issue, according to Porsche, and nothing in our experience suggests otherwise. Advantage: PDK.
The margin only widens at speed, where PDK proves utterly seamless in full automatic mode and serves up lightning-quick yet remarkably smooth manual shifts in "Sport." The GT-R's transmission is very good, but there's some perceptible thunking through the gears, and its downshifts aren't as quick as PDK's.
So there's your answer: Godzilla's good, but PDK's better. It's still no manual substitute, though, and never will be. Check out my rant on this subject over at the new Edmunds Daily blog, and tell me if you agree.
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor, Edmunds.com
I am moved by muscle cars. I can appreciate a big, ol' luxury boat. And I even like the occasional drive in a pick-up truck. But, honestly, I'm most comfortable and generally happiest in a relatively small, relatively lightweight car. This makes my growing affection for the decidedly beefy BMW X5 4.8i something unusual.
Everything about this vehicle is brawny, thick, heavy or solid, including its heavy-duty as-tested price of $68,520. And at more than 5,000 pounds of solid German/American goodness, the perception of high weight is reality. But it's almost shocking how easily the X5's V8 moves this two-and-a-half tons. Surely, the engine must be underrated at 350 hp. And somehow, even without the sport package, the X5 is nearer to being nimble than anything this big has right to be.
I don't need all this size. I certainly don't need to sit up as high as I do in the X5's driver's seat. But damn if I don't like it. The only real downside, assuming you have the means to make the monthly payments, is the big fuel tab. Since it's arrival in Detroit less than a month ago, the X5 has averaged 14.2 mpg. With the X5, you get size and you get speed, but you can't have everything.
Back in L.A. after 2,493.1 miles. Besides surgery to remove the severe cramping from my right leg and lower back there was really just one thing left to do...
This week's photo was taken by Kurt Niebuhr.
Our Senior Copy Editor Doug Lloyd suggested "It's better to burnout than fade away."
Can you beat it?
We'll post our favorite caption at 4PM (Pacific Time).
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
One year and 22,000 miles later, we say good-bye to our 2008 Hyundai Veracruz. It proved to be reliable, likeable and a good hauler of Girl Scout cookies.
Read the long-term wrap-up of the Hyundai Veracruz on Inside Line.
Any last thoughts on the Veracruz before she veracruises off into the sunset? Feel free to have at it in the comments section.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
As my impatient right foot presses the Mazda 6 into action, the engine groans loudly. The mouthy 2.5-liter inline-4 is a little too talkative for my taste. But once the car gets going, Mazda has done a good job of keeping out wind and road noise.
There is a particularly undulating strip of the 405 freeway that can really stir up a car with a stiff suspension like the GT-R. But the softer Mazda6 absorbs the bumps with ease and keeps out the thump-thump-thump of the concrete seams.
So, while we opted for the Mazda 6 with the smaller engine that sounds like it has to work hard to get going, the suspension and well-designed cabin keep the ride relatively quiet. I get to enjoy my music on the commute home instead of the roar of traffic.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
I've been impressed with our long-term 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI's DSG transmission, a sophisticated piece of automotive hardware installed in the type of car you wouldn't expect it to be in. However, the buyer of a GT-R or an Evo MR is more likely to understand this dual-clutch automated manual technology and even seek it out. Joe and Jane Car Shopper, though, will be simply looking for a regular-old slushbox and may be turned off by this type of new fangled transmission.
On a test drive, the DSG would obviously act differently than a normal automatic, specifically in the way it doesn't creep forward in the same manner as when you lift off the brake in a regular auto-equipped car. It also behaves differently when you let off the gas, trimming speed more like a manual transmission. These are things you grow accustomed to (and like), but on a test drive, I see people dismissing the thing as defective and/or too different for its own good. The fact that it's attached to a diesel engine (something few drivers have experienced) would only exacerbate the potential problem.
Maybe it's not that big of a deal or people will shrug it off as "different cars do different things," but I still think it could be an issue.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 9,737 miles
After taking the time to photograph our trusty steed in New Mexico and Colorado simultaneously we continued to drive west, me in the very dirty Cadillac CTS and Ed Hellwig in his new 33-year-old truck. Now our speed was limited to 68 mph so Ed could keep up, and we would need to stop every 150 miles so Mr. Hellwig could refuel.
At that rate, the Cad's average speed was plummeting, but its fuel economy was through the roof. On the final day of the trip I covered almost 800 miles of interstate, but averaged only 60 mph. Fuel economy jumped to 24.1 mpg. Good, but still way below the car's EPA highway rating of 26 mpg, no doubt due to the numerous elevation changes and high winds on our route.
More highlights on the next page.
Sure, our M3 probably didn't need upgraded brakes, but then again, it didn't need 333-horsepower either. Someone at BMW thought it might be fun - and they were right. Same goes for the brakes. They feel great and you can hammer on them endlessly without guilt.
They're not perfect though. Around town they're starting to squeak. It's like having a parakeet stuck in your ear. Kind of annoying to say the least. Not sure if it's something we can address easily. You'll also notice the considerable amount of brake dust on the wheels. Good thing they're dark to begin with.
Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor @ 66,963 miles
Our GT-R is down. No, the transaxle hasn't gone kapow, the front tires have. Check it out; both are corded on the inside edge of the tread. A Nissan engineer tells me he's surprised they lasted this long. "If they keep the suspension in the performance alignment settings, as you obviously have, most customers will get between 12,000-15,000 miles out of the first set of tires," he told me.
He's right. All GT-Rs are delivered with a performance alignment. It increases the car's grip due to a fair amount of negative camber, but it also accelerates front tire wear. There are less aggressive alignment settings that Nissan recommends, and your dealer will make the adjustment if you wish. We never wished. Our car has always had the performance alignment.
And now it is parked awaiting new front tires, which won't be cheap. Considering we just bought new rubber for our BMW 135i, this is not good timing.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 16,383 miles
This was the first time since the Evo's very first blog entry that I've driven our MR long-termer. Please excuse me whilst I revert into a gomer...
Holy crap is this car good. The transmission is brilliant -- immediate shifts in manual, perfectly designed paddles and the automatic mode was greatly appreciated in today's enormous West L.A. traffic carmaggedon. Had it been a manual (say the STI's), I would have hacked off my clutch leg. The engine is completely incapable of accelerating slowly. You're either stopped or making your passengers exclaim something along the lines of "Holy Godalahbuddhakrishnayoda!" The brakes'll suck your eyeballs out. The steering is crazy quick, heavy and transmits more information than an NSA wiretap. The seats were snug for my 5-foot-zip girlfriend, prompting her to comment, "Thank god I'm not fat." It looks bad-ass, dude, way bad-ass. I even got the primo out-front spot at Spanish Kitchen last night. Not that I'd ever care about such things, but it's a freakin' Mitsubishi! Holy crap is this car good.
There, I got it out of my system. I may now remind myself that it costs $41,765 with an insurance premium somewhere south of the Carnival Crown Princess.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 10,401 miles
Our Infiniti FX50's hard-drive-based navigation system came in handy a few days ago when I drove to San Francisco. My destination was actually Fort Baker, which is just north of the city in Marin County. Since I was coming from the east, that meant using the Bay bridge, driving through the often-confusing layout of San Francisco and then going over the Golden Gate bridge to Fort Baker.
As it was dark, during rush hour and raining for my drive in, the navigation system's prompts allowed me to focus on driving rather than navigating. I particularly liked being able to turn off the voice prompts for turns and just using the system's simple and unobtrusive "dings."
I also like the FX's combination of buttons and the touchscreen display. I don't think the button layout is all that stylistically pleasing -- it looks too busy -- but once you learn the interface it's great for quickly getting what you want.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Last night I did what just about any driver does when they come to a red light. You've got nothing to do for the next 30 seconds, so you fidget with the radio, look at the people at the bus stop, adjust a vent, whatever to waste those 30 seconds.
But what I didn't realize is that while I was tuning the radio the car was slowly creeping forward. It was only when I looked up and saw a rear view mirror with a set of bug eyes staring at me in panic did I realize I didn't have enough pressure on the brake pedal.
I tried it out a little later when I had another opportunity and I wasn't completely negligent. This sucker needs a lot more pressure than you might realize to keep it from moving. Almost to the point that if the light is a long one, your shin will start to burn.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
It was somewhere between Kansas City and Durango (I think; it's all a blur.) that we found actual value in the Cadillac's OnStar system. We couldn't believe it either, but the system's turn-by-turn feature is actually really cool.
Here's how it happened. We looked up a hotel on Mapquest. Asked for directions from our location and noticed the "Send to OnStar" tab. We clicked it, put in our account number and zap, the directions were beamed to the car. Instantly the display within the speedometer was showing directions and a voice was telling us where to go.
And the best part? The directions were right.
Think about it. You can load the system with dozens of destinations before you ever leave your house. This seems like a real reason to get a car with OnStar. What do you think?
-- Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
Adding performance parts is only half the battle. Tuning is key to unlocking the potential of those parts, and once Road Race Engineering installed the Cosworth MX1 cams, our Long-Term 2008 Evo GSR hit the dyno again.
The dyno for all of these runs is Road Race Engineering's Dynapack, which places a drive unit at each of the car's hubs.
All of the dyno data here is uncorrected for ambient conditions. Click the thumbnails for a larger view.
To recap, here's the baseline dyno chart of Project Evo X. It's what stock cams, AMS intercooler, intake, exhaust and reflash looks like.
In our case, it's 316 hp and 320 lb-ft.
Overlayed with a stock Evo X, our Long-Term 2008 Evo GSR enjoyed an additional 68 hp and 66 lb-ft of torque in this baseline state of tune.
See the lumpiness in the stock Evo's (red) result? Overfueling is a fairly common strategy used on stock turbocharged cars to keep the catalyst cool so that it can last 100k miles. Ironic, eh? Evo Xs run so rich at full load that the ignition system can barely punch through the mixture.
Once the Cosworth MX1 cams were in, we went back to the dyno. Click the jump for the results.
"Hey, could you change the channel? This is the fifth time in a half-hour I've heard that damned Offspring song."
"Nope, sure can't."
That's because when the light hits just right, the STI's nav screen disappears worse than most others. Credit the black/navy blue background. All those finger prints don't help either.
I also discovered another in the endless list of Subaru quirks when I got into the STI this morning (and it wasn't that I left the lights on). I immediately put the car into reverse and before leaving tried to switch the stereo from AUX to FM 97.1.
"Nope, sure can't."
The physical and touchscreen buttons did nothing. I thought the system was frozen so I turned the car off and on (the age-old electronics trick). That didn't work either. Then I thought maybe the thing wouldn't let you do anything with the nav system while in reverse. Sure enough, that was it. I guess it's to prevent you from backing over a Girl Scout while changing a radio station, but I don't recall experiencing this feature before. Is it common?
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 18,789 miles
Not long after Ferris Bueller charms Cameron out of the keys to his dad's prized Ferrari (cue the Yello song "Oh Yeah"), you can just barely pick out Ferris shouting "Redline! Redline! Redline!" as he mashes the throttle and bolts out of the frame toward downtown Chicago.
This morning, it was me doing the throttle mashing. But my exclamation "Redline! Redline. Redline ... Redline?" was not one of pure exuberance; I was counting the damn things.
That's right, our 2009 Nissan GT-R has four redlines. At least. And that's not including any temperature or pressure gauges.
Of course the twin-turbo V6 engine has a redline, and it's 7,000 rpm. But the GT-R also has redlines for steering (0.5 lateral g, as shown above), braking (0.4 longitudinal g) and acceleration (0.3 longitudinal g.)
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