It's gotta be the most talked about car in the last two years.
For months before it's release, the search engines were buzzing with news and rumors about the new Skyline that was coming.
Well, as you know, it's not a Skyline, but it is the most hyped-up car in recent years. It wasn't just idle chatter. The 2009 Nissan GT-R has lived up to its reputation.
We like it, anyway. And even almost a year after it joined our fleet, it still gets "oh my god, is that your car" reactions from passersby.
Let's celebrate this killer machine once again. The 2009 Nissan GT-R is car of the week.
Thanks to ergsum once again for this week's favorite caption.
We also got a kick out of these:
Inside Line tested, Paul Bunyan approved! (e10rice) Why does the Nav say I've reached my destination when I'm at the Brokeback Mountain Saloon? (vwthing1) Parking reserved for Johann Deere (canadia) Yee-haw! I mean Wunderbar! (subytrojan) Der Flanell! Das Boot! (ergsum) I like big boots and I cannot lie! (ergsum) The S5 gets kicked to the curb. (funkymunky) Audi S5: Kicking things up a notch. (greenpiece) MMI needs a reBOOT (subaru123)
OK, let's clarify. Our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4's built-in but portable Garmin Nuvi unit has nowhere near the features of the iDrive navigation system in our long-term 2009 BMW 750i. But this Garmin unit is better in two basic ways.
1. Unlike iDrive, the Nuvi tells me the side of the street on which I'll find my tall nonfat double latte fix. When driving in areas in which I'm truly unfamiliar, this is inherently safer, because (a) I'm not looking every which way to find my destination; and (b) I can get in the proper lane to turn into my destination.
2. I like voice instruction. I always turn it on when I use navigation systems. And I appreciate it when a system gives me directions in plain spoken English, pronouncing street and highway names pretty close to the way I'm used to hearing them. The Garmin does that well, even in the Australian male "Lee" narrator we've selected on ours -- he can even say "Starbucks." Not only is the 750i's iDrive unit too infrequent in providing voice prompts, it can't pronounce freeway names in typical American parlance.
As Donna falls out of like with our 2009 Suzuki SX4, I think might be falling into like. I'm a long-time Fit fan and, up until today, I've never been able to get enthusiastic about the slow and heavy SX4. But after logging 130 highway miles, I think there's definitely something to the reports that Suzuki's hatchback might be the better highway car.
The SX4 outweighs the Fit by 450+ pounds, so it's no surprise the Suzuki feels more substantial and stable at 70 mph. And when you're in a very small car, but don't necessarily want to be driving a very small car, this is inherently comforting.
Also, when you're cruising down the highway, the SX4's steering is less reactive than the Fit's, with a stronger self-centering tendency, so you make fewer steering corrections.
Adding to the relaxation is the lack of engine noise at a cruise. But the arduous process of getting up to speed takes away some satisfaction. It's the classic scenario of not enough engine (a 143-hp 2.0-liter I4 lugging 2,982 lbs) and less than ideal gear ratios, and it's nothing you haven't experienced if you've driven any small car from the 1980s (or, yes, yes, our long-term Smart). And while not unbearable, the SX4 feels like a throwback -- perhaps to the Corolla All-Trac.
But recalibration of my right foot has begun, and I've started to take full advantage of the shifter's D-3-2-L setup. So perhaps even this annoyance will fade. I'll let you know Monday.
If you've been keeping tabs on Project Evo X, our 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR, you know that we've added power and tire. And although the stock suspension hasn't exactly withered as a result, we wanted to add control and adjustability to better exploit the additional width of our Bridgestone RE-11 tires and Volk Racing RE30 wheels.
Being nose-heavy and tall with a MacPherson strut front suspension, the Evo can really take advantage of a lot more static negative camber up front. So camber plates are a given.
We also wanted to lower the car's center of gravity somewhat and rein in the front camber loss due to body roll. This means ride height adjustment and higher spring rates plus--and this is the critical bit--damper valving that can deal with everything we throw at it.
Doing all of these things will improve transient response and grip. As for ride quality, we're willing to deal with a somewhat busier ride in the Evo but the degradation must be minimal. Our target, the GT-R, defines the bounds of what we're willing to tolerate in Project Evo X. A long-travel suspension will help here.
When it comes to handling, there's no question that our problem statement of a streetable GT-R killer is a tall order.
I understand if you think nobody would ever choose our long-term Hyundai Genesis V6 over our long-term BMW 750i. But in the words of the great Bob Falfa, "I ain't nobody dork."
Thank you to those that came to my defense and the defense of the Genesis.
The truth is I really do prefer the Hyundai. I've spent quite a bit of time in the 750i now (not to mention that a 2001 740iL with the sport package is one of my dream cars), and the more I drive it the less I want to. It's hard to explain, but I'm just not in sync with the machine. It has several combinations of tune that the driver can choose; Comfort, Normal, Sport and Sport+. And I don't seem to like any of them. I find myself constantly changing modes looking for a sweet spot that never comes.
It's like Goldilocks. This one is too firm. This one is too soft. But "this one is just right" just ain't there.
I have a hunch the Sport Package and 19-inch runflat Goodyears on our test car have quite a bit to do with this, but it's just a hunch. The car's overall damping doesn't seem to be the problem, it's the intrusion of the road's surface into the driver's seat and steering wheel that trouble me.
A few weeks ago, I was flipping through channels on TV and stopped on The Transporter. It was a 2002 film starring Jason Statham; his ex-military character earns a living by driving potentially illegal packages or cargo around Europe using a manual-shift BMW 730i and not asking any questions.
I was actually driving our long-term 750i at the time, and The Transporter also made me think of BMW's series of The Hire short films from 2001 and 2002 starring Clive Owen. After a bit of contemplation, I decided that neither the "transporter" nor the "hire" would drive a 2009 750i. As capable as it is, there's just too much technology in it. It's not a true driver's car.
I could see them driving a Pontiac G8, though. Like a 7 Series, it's big, roomy and an exceptionally handling car for its size. But it's not overly pretentious like a new 7 can seem. Not too many other motorists notice our black G8, either, so one can dip into the V8's extensive power reserves without drawing much attention. Plus, you can get a manual transmission in the GXP version, something BMW no longer bothers with for the new 750i. If there any real "tranporters" or "hires" out there, this is the car for you.
Every time I see our long-term 2009 Mazda 6 I'm struck by its lovely red paint. I'm not typically a huge fan of red cars, but there's something about this shade that really appeals to me.
This morning I pulled the monroney from the 6's file to check the name of the paint color.
I really like driving our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4. No, it's not the quickest little hatch around, but its steering, brakes and suspension all have just the right weighting and feedback to keep me entertained. In fact, the Suzuki feels so good, there are several cars in our fleet with much higher price tags that could learn a thing or two from its brake feel, body motion control and precise steering.
Basically it's a car that likes to be driven hard, and it's a car that feels like it was tuned for the driving enthusiast.
Am I surprised by the Suzuki's pleasurable feel and entertaining dynamics? Nope. How could I be when the same company makes this...
There's nothing like the convenience of having a gas station on every corner. When you're driving a natural gas vehicle like the Civic GX, however, that kind of convenience is a luxury that simply isn't within your grasp, and this can sometimes be problematic. Case in point: I've had the car for the past few days. Was running low on gas, but figured, "No problem -- there's a station just a couple of blocks from work." Got to that station to do the deed, but found that the pumps weren't operational. Located another station, on the UCLA campus. Spent 45 minutes unsuccessfully trying to find said station -- no one I spoke to, not even the security guard, had any knowledge of it. By now the tank's running pretty low. I locate another station, this one near the airport. Get there, finally achieve a fill-up, and breathe a sigh of relief.
A friend of mine has a GX, and drives 10 miles to the nearest station to fill his tank. That's dedication, man. I couldn't imagine owning this car without having a (costly) Phill installed.
Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor @ 31,717 miles
There is a lot to like about our 2009 Suzuki SX4. It's cute (I know you don't all agree), it's comfortable, it has good visibility, satellite radio, lots of nice features.
But it's painfully slow. Excruciatingly, frustratingly slow. For tooling around town on city streets, that's fine. When running errands, it holds all my crap, groceries, dry cleaning, potting soil, anything you can think of. It's easy to park. Lots of pluses.
But forget it on the highway. Merging into traffic, foot down, and it takes its sweet old time. I find myself yelling at it to hurry the heck up. When you finally get up to a comfortable cruising speed, the SX4 handles it without much vibration and noise. But try to pass a Camry and it stubbornly climbs the speedometer at a snail's pace.
I was pretty heartless when I laid into our Sport-package-equipped 2009 Audi A4 Avant for its harsh ride on LA freeways. Today I got the wagon on a back road to see if I liked the tradeoff in handling. And I really do.
Considering it weighs nearly 3,900 pounds, our A4 Avant really changes directions quickly, even on roads with very tight corners where I would expect it to understeer at least a little. Now I understand that 69.3-mph slalom speed. The A4's steering usually feels pretty vacant to me (and that's unrelated to our repair concern), but it weights up nicely off-center in these situations and I didn't mind the lack of feedback (much). And the brakes feel good.
This car is fun. And both the seating position and seat design are spot-on for this kind of driving. I'll be requesting our Audi A4 the next time I take a road trip... which will be carefully plotted to avoid the interstate.
This is what happens when you press the remote trunk release button on our long-term 2009 VW Jetta TDI's key fob. It's especially convenient when your hands are full, as there's no need to set down half your stuff in order to open the trunk. But even if you're just putting a suitcase back there, or setting your golf bag in after a round, it's pretty cool that the trunk lid pops open for you.
I'm surprised more trunks aren't like this. It's a real rarity in the family sedan segment, and even at twice the Jetta's price, there's no guarantee a sedan's trunk will perform this trick.
Help me out here. What sedans can you think of that share this feature?
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor, Edmunds.com @ 15,464 miles
Mike Schmidt just handed me the clipboard. "What do you want to drive tonight and for the weekend?" he asked.
Well, last night I drove our long-term BMW 750i. And I thought about just keeping it until Monday because I need a large sedan on Saturday for some family business. But wait, our long-term Hyundai Genesis V6 is available? I'll take that.
No I'm not kidding, I really did it. I just swapped the key to a $90,000 BMW for the key to a Hyundai. Why? Because the Genesis is that good.
As you can see, on my way home last night from the Speedway motorcycle races in City of Industry, California (about 35 miles east of our Santa Monica office) our long-term 2009 BMW 750i told me it needed oil.
Here is a view from the driver's seat of the 2009 Suzuki SX4.
The triangular-shaped windows in the front really help when making turns, especially left turns. Airbags have really bloated the A pillars in modern cars. Suzuki does a nice job.
I don't think the Honda Fit's shifter is mechanically attached to the transmission. It is so ridiculously light and devoid of any resistance, moving the stick through its gates feels more like the manual shifter on an arcade game. If you were to tell me that putting the Fit's shifter into each gate triggers an electrical signal that triggers a gear elsewhere, I wouldn't be surprised. The Fit's lack of torque certainly contributes to this toy car feel.
It certainly makes for easy shifting -- dropping from third to second can be accomplished with your pinky -- but count me as a person who would like some actual mechanical feel to my manual transmission. I don't need some stiff thing that feels like its attached to a John Deere grain combine (cough, Infiniti G35, cough), but some inkling of response would be nice. A Mini Cooper S is one example of how to do it right.
And this is coming from a person who owned an Acura TSX, another car with one of Honda's typically low-effort gearboxes. Perhaps it's because the shifter wasn't capped with a giant super ball, but the TSX and other more powerful Hondas manage to avoid feeling like the Fit's arcade shifter.
After making the nearly 1,000 mile trek to Colorado, I was sure of two things: 1) the S5 is one of the best looking cars on the road today, 2) I probably wouldn't buy one for myself even if I could.
As far as the first one goes, it's purely subjective. Every time walked back to the car from a snack break, or stopped to take a picture, the S5 looked perfect, even with hundreds of miles of road grime caked to its nose. It has the right stance, perfect proportions and simplicity in its lines that are hard to argue with. And judging by the number of random thumbs up I saw, most are in agreement with me on this one.
