March 2009 Long-Term Road Tests Archives

The Suzuki SX4 may not be sexy but it gets the job done. Grocery getting and commuting are handled with ease and the interior remains fairly quiet even on the freeway. I also like the cargo cover that keeps whatever you have behind the rear seats out of sight.

The weak point is the four automatic speed transmission - it needs a five speed. There's just too much hunting at about 40-45 miles per hour. It's especially bad in slow traffic - a little on the gas and it down, then upshifts EVERY TIME.

A base wagon with navigation (like ours) has a starting price of about $16,000. Add a five speed auto and I'd say get this 'zuki instead of a Honda Fit.

Brian Moody, Automotive Editor

Categories: 2009 Suzuki SX4

I wanted to give you guys an update on the vehicles we cover everyday on this blog. I think there's some concern out there that we have too many BMWs. We don't, it just looks like we do.

Fact is, the X5 is done. The wrap-up of its year long run with us will hit Inside Line this Thursday night. Our 2002 M3 is also pretty much finished. We've had it for 15 months, and have just been waiting for a new M3 sedan to arrive before we sold it off. Well, the new M3 arrived today. Don't worry, it's a 6-speed. No SMG. Or DCT. Or whatever they call it now. Look for it's intro to this blog in a couple of weeks and the wrap-up of our year long test of the E46 in about a month.

That leaves our 135i. It too will end its run soon. We'll have had it for 12-months sometime in May.

So, our timing may be a bit off, but the plan was to replace the 135i, the E46 M3 and the X5 with our new 750i and a new M3 sedan. So if you give it a month or two to play out, we'll be back down to just two BMWs.

Make sense?

Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief 

Categories: 2002 BMW M3,2008 BMW 135i,2008 BMW X5 4.8i,2009 BMW 750i

          
The 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6 is a great car -- it's the best $32K sedan out there.
And loaded at $40K, one of the best, for sure.

But is it, as some have written, comparable to the 2009 BMW 750?

If I were a 13 year-old girl or United States Congressman, I would respond to that by text or tweet,
"OMG! LOL! Luv ya! Muuaaahh!!"

The Genesis does compare quite well to another luxury car: the Lexus GS350.

In a previous life, I had a lot of experience benchmarking Lexuses (Lexi?), including the GS.
For me, the Genesis is almost identical to it in driving dynamics.

When I first drove a Genesis, if I was blindfolded I'd swear that I couldn't tell the difference between the two. The similarities are remarkable!

The ride in particular is quite Lexus-like: super smooth and a bit cushy. Although the ride is flat, well-controlled, and slightly sporty, the Genesis can get a  bit floaty over sinusoidal whoops. And while the Genesis has better impact isolation and attenuation than the GS, the overall suspension feeling is somewhat soft -- like a Lexus.

I personally prefer a firmer, more controlled ride (e.g., CTS, 750, TL) than the Genesis or GS. But that's me.

Where the Genesis stands out is in value. A 2009 Lexus GS350 RWD with Navi and premium Mark Levinson audio rings in at a rather expensive $52,000.

That's $12K more than the Genesis for very similar vehicles. The Genesis has similar high quality materials and assembly, and a lot more interior room than the GS.

Is the GS worth the difference? Up to you.

Lexus did recalibrate our luxury car dealership expectations to a higher level.
And Lexus reliability and durability are equalled by but a few.

Although Hyundai is manufacturing some very well-built vehicles today, even my terrible memory can still recall all the broken-down Excels littering the sides of the road when they first entered the U.S. market.

In the luxury car arena, image is important. It's difficult to re-build a reputation that you burned to the ground -- even if that was 20 years ago.

Oh, and good luck explaining your new car purchase to your non-enthusiast spouse:
"Honey, I just spent $40 grand -- on a Hyundai!"  

Albert Austria, Sr Vehicle Eval Engineer @ 5454 miles

(photos by S.Jacobs)

Categories: 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6

Part of the fun of owning an enthusiast car like our 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T is taking it to events where you actually participate in the car world. And this weekend I did just that. I took our black R/T to the Fourth Annual Spring Festival of LX's in Irvine, California about 60 miles south of our Santa Monica office.

Fun event. More than 600 Chrysler 300s, Dodge Chargers, Magnums and Challengers were displayed, including more that 100 Challengers, some modified, some stock. There were also vender displays by Mopar and other companies that make up the aftermarket supply for these machines. Even a couple of Chrysler execs showed to unveil the Challenger Rallye Package, both Joe Dehner, the VP of Design and the LX Cheif Engineer Tony Elias flew in from Detroit for the event.

Basically it was an all day gathering of a couple thousand fanatics devoted to Chrysler Corps. latest rear wheel drive rides and I enjoyed being a part of it. But after looking at all those well modified Challengers I'm not so sure our stocker is as exciting as it once was.

More pictures from the show after the jump. 

Continue reading...

Categories: 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T

When we bought our beloved E46 back in December of 2007, the 2002 BMW M3 had covered 49,750 miles. Well, that was 15 months and 20,000 miles ago. 

The good news: We haven't spent a dime on maintenance since we had that alternator problem dealt with back in September around the 62,000 mile mark. Well, not unless you count tires. I'm also astonished at how tight this car feels. We don't baby it, believe me, yet there is not a squeek or a rattle to be heard. Tight as a drum, and I swear the suspension feels new.

The bad news: The steering and shifter are feeling their age. Especially the shifter. 

By the way, a new M3 Sedan will be joining our fleet in April, and its arrival will mark the end of this car's time with us. I for one will miss it. Will you? 

Anybody out there want to buy a well preserved 2002 BMW M3?  

Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 69,789 miles    

Categories: 2002 BMW M3

What do you want to know about our long-term Hyundai Genesis V6?

If you've driven one, tell us what you thought of it.

Post your comments or questions and we'll do our best to get back to you.

Managing Editor, Donna DeRosa

Categories: 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6

Sometime on Friday night, after about three hours of enjoying the low-end torque and super-smooth dual-clutch DSG transmission of our 2009 Jetta TDI, I looked down at the fuel gauge and saw that, despite the trip odometer registering 160 miles, the needle wasn't even at the 3/4 tank mark. Now clearly I had done some damage to the overall fuel economy of this tank after only a few dozen miles, but still, the nifty little trip computer was registering almost 30mpg. That's pretty good, I thought. But surely I could do better, much better, if I really set my mind to it.

I drove immediately to the nearest gas station with available diesel and filled up the tank. I filled it very, very slowly (diesel tends to foam if poured too quickly which can cause a premature nozzle click-off) and then waited for the fuel to settle itself and, as slowly as the pump would allow, topped it off. The '09 Jetta took 5.717 gallons after only 163.9 miles. Clearly someone else had been enjoying the torque, too.

While you may be familiar with the diesel Jetta's impressive fuel economy, you may not be so familiar with my less-than-stellar EPA rating: I'm from the East coast. I'm always in a rush. I live in the city and rarely stray onto anything resembling a freeway. This test was going to be a test of the Jetta as much as it was of my will power.

Easy on the throttle. Stay way away from the brakes. Keep moving at all costs. A/C off. Tom Gabel in the CD player-- if my lethargic pace caused my boilers to overpressurize, I wanted to have something I could scream along to while keeping my right foot rock-steady.

A/C off was the first rule broken. It was something like 85 on Saturday. That's too hot. A/C on for a good portion of the afternoon.

Easy on the throttle was next to go. That same day it seemed like every person on the road washed down their morning coffee with a handful of Xanax. How so many indifferent, directionless people could converge on the same roadways at the same time was beyond me. Only a healthy dose of throttle-- after 3 tracks of solid screaming-- could fix the problem. What can I say? I wasn't built to be a hypermiler. Or to sit idle when I could advance my position. 

Other than that, though, I was perfect. I timed the lights as best I could; coasted as much as was safely possible; accelerated on pace with most school busses and generally just tried to be as steady and smooth as traffic and safety would allow. ( I refused to be that guy going 50 in a 65 just to get 2mpg better economy.)  

After just over two days of careful driving, and a very careful refueling early Monday from the same pump I started with Friday night, these were the results:

Total city miles: 98.7

Total highway miles: 54.6

Total miles: 150.2   

Total Gallons: 3.562

Average MPG: 43.037

Looks like there might be something to this driving frugally thing after all. Now if only it were possible to do without screaming my vocal chords raw from the stress and boredom of hypermiling.

Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 12,910 miles

Categories: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

Our 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6 got into a tussle with a 2-ton block of concrete over the weekend -- and lost.

The damage was relatively minor: no mechanical damage and the tail lights were spared.

It's completely driveable, so we'll still cover it for Car of the Week. But a trip to the body shop is in its future.

Albert Austria, Sr Vehicle Eval Engineer @ 5425 miles

Categories: 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6

There's a short cut out of my neighborhood that's peppered with whale-sized speed bumps. May be four or five of those bad boys, and it's always interesting for me to see how different test cars handle the hurdles.

I knew this weekend's test drive in the 2009 Infiniti FX50 was unusually harsh when my daughter commented from the rear seat, "When did they make these bumps bigger?"

Not everyone appreciates an ultra-stiff ride.

Kelly Toepke, News Editor @ 9,345 miles

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Took the big, bad 750i this weekend and it is indeed one serious sedan. For something that weighs 4,600 pounds, the 750 can make surprisingly quick work of unsuspecting Mustangs on freeway onramps. Especially lowered black ones with Eibach stickers in the side windows, or so I'm told.  

It also happens to have an alarmingly voracious appetite for oil. At one point this weekend I was warned by the much improved iDrive system that the oil level was at the minimum, which struck me as strange given the car only had about 4,700 miles on the odometer.

Continue reading...

Categories: 2009 BMW 750i

Ford's SYNC gets my award for the best bluetooth interface of any vehicle on the market today. It's a simple interface that, with a few button punches, can be easily linked to your phone. And, once bonded, it can easily be reconnected while moving. This wouldn't matter so much if my phone didn't insist on deactivating bluetooth every time it leaves the car. It also allows phone volume adjustment on the audio system volume knob when bluetooth is in use. Excellent.

Josh Jacquot, Senior road test editor @ 20,804 miles

Categories: 2009 Ford Flex Limited

You may not have noticed, but our sport-package-equipped 2009 Nissan 370Z has got some serious wheel and brake hardware. The forged alloy wheels measure 19x9 up front and 19x10 at the rear. The corresponding tire sizes are 245/40R19 and 275/35R19s. This is on a sub-3,400-pound car with 332 horsepower, mind you.

For comparison, BMW's expired Z4M coupe, a car with a similar size/weight/power, rolled on 18x8s up front, 18x9s in the rear and 225/45R18 tires up front and 255/40R18s in back. Even the base Corvette (18s up front and 19s in back) has 245-width tires in front and 285s in back.

The Z's braking performance during testing was a little controversial, but in terms of specs -- 14-inch rotors up front with four-piston calipers -- there's nothing to complain about.

When it's standing still, the 370Z really looks the part thanks to those 19s, big brakes and wide tires. And with an as-tested 70.4 mph slalom speed and 0.93 g on the skidpad, it's got the numbers to back it up.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor @ 4,186 miles

Categories: 2009 Nissan 370Z Touring

This weekend was my first time in our 2009 Honda Fit Sport and in addition to its ultra-light shifter I was pleased with its awesome visibility -- an important feature for a small car, I think. No, not its visibility to other drivers. How can you miss that searing orange? (BTW one passer-by actually told me that "my car" was ugly.) Rather both the Fit's front view and rear view present a near panoramic picture of the surrounding environment (difficult to capture on camera, sorry!). This made me confident enough to squirt in and out of traffic as well as cross busy intersections where all I got is a stop sign.

Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 4,564 miles

Categories: 2009 Honda Fit Sport

We've certainly had our gripes with the cabin of our Ford Focus. Crappy ergonomics. Loose door handle.

Still, you have to give credit where credit is due, and this weekend I was pretty struck by how pristine the car's interior looks. It's been in our care for over a year now, and has over 17,000 miles on the odo. We're not exactly known for having a kid-glove approach when it comes to our test cars, yet our Ford's cabin still looks pretty much the same as it did when the car first rolled into our garage.

Continue reading...

Categories: 2008 Ford Focus SES Coupe

Unlike some of my younger, less experienced colleagues who think that the skinny red line at the top of the rev-counter is the indicator for an upshift, I am of the mindset that fuel is to be conserved. Why, I remember when the Ethel only two-bits a gallon and we'd drive all the way to the lake and back and still have enough left in the tank to go to the drug store and visit the soda jerk who would reach deep into the Kelvinator to make us an ice cream soda and then give us a handful of Squirrel Nut Zippers because it was a Sunday. Boy, howdy. Those were the days.

Continue reading...

Categories: 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X MR

I had a free afternoon yesterday, and I looked at our 2008 BMW 135i coupe in my carport and decided a drive was in order. We went to Little Tujunga Canyon Road , a favorite of mine because of its convenient location and pretty even mix of fast sweepers and tighter turns.

We've written before that the 135i is an easy car to drive quickly because it is so benign -- perhaps the most benign of any rear-wheel-drive car currently on sale in the U.S. Slow down on your entry to counteract the understeer; then, exploit all that torque (300 lb-ft from as low as 1,400 rpm) on your exit. Find your rhythm, know your road and you'll be fast. And safe.

I love the steering feel in this car. You never have any doubts about front tire grip.

And I love the driving position: It's not sexy; I'm not going to see the curves and contours of the car as I do in our 370Z or a G37. Really, I might as well be sitting in a sedan when I'm in our One. All I see is a flat hood, and I jack the seat way up so I'm sitting high. But I don't care. The steering wheel fits perfectly in my hands, and flat and squooshy as the driver seat is, it orients me perfectly for steering, shifting and working the pedals.

Other than the sneaking suspicion that this car doesn't need me (with all that torque, it barely even needs me to shift), the one complaint that came up during the drive is the 135i's lack of a limited-slip rear differential. Mind you, I probably could live without one if I owned this car. But, occasionally, when the rear tires had trouble getting the power down on exit, I thought about driving the Genesis Coupe 3.8 and wished the One had a torsen limited-slip, too.

Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 19,455 miles

Categories: 2008 BMW 135i

Driving home Friday night in our still new 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T I spotted this 1971 Challenger parked on the street near our Santa Monica office and could not resist the photo op. The car is not an R/T, but it is in awesome unrestored condition and appears to still be somebody's daily ride. The vinyl top, rallye wheels and hood pins are cool bits, and I swear that's the original paint.  

Continue reading...

Categories: 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T

Several months ago I wrote a full test of the Hyundai Genesis V6 and I've been hoping we would get one in the long-term fleet ever since.

I was just discussing the Genesis with some of the other editors. We all agree is it a really nice car. But we're all kind of weirded out by the fact that it makes us feel a little old. But we don't care because it's so roomy and comfortable and quiet, so quiet.

One of my favorite cosmetic features is the cushioned, leather-wrapped dash, which comes with the Premium packages. The one I tested in August (left) had brown contrasting leather which I though was especially nice. Our long-termer has the black to match its interior. I prefer the dark brown to offset the black interior. It looks richer. But both are very attractive.

Welcome to the car of the week, the 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Categories: 2009 Hyundai Genesis V6

"Gentlemen," Cmdr. Mike "Viper" Metcalf memorably advised, "This is about combat. There are no points for second place."

And so it is with our latest Edmunds Daily comparison test, which pits two of our long-term luxury cruisers against each other -- CTS vs. Genesis -- in a no-holds-barred battle for sybaritic sedan supremacy.

Check it out, and tell us which one you would have picked, and why.

Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor, Edmunds.com

Categories: 2008 Cadillac CTS V6 DI,2009 Hyundai Genesis V6

So our 2009 Nissan GT-R needs new rear tires. You don't think it has anything to do with the way we've been driving do you? This video is a prime example of what can happen when you put fresh tires on the front of a car and leave worn ones out back and go tearing around a skidpad. That's test driver Josh Jacquot's voice you hear over the radio at the beginning of the video. He's clearly a fan of this setup.  

Total cost: $903.52 for a set of Bridgestone Potenza REO70R size 285/35R20. Stokes Tire Pros here in Santa Monica ordered them Wednesday, they showed up Thursday and were installed in about an hour (busy day).

Note the large strip of missing rubber. 

Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 18,919 miles

Categories: 2009 Nissan GT-R