As much as I love living in L.A. I detest its omnipresent traffic. So whenever I have an event to go to across town, I always make sure to pick a long-term car that will make that stressful situation a bit more bearable. And out of the cars in our current fleet, I'd have to say that our Mitsubishi Outlander (the big one) is my favorite for these reasons: 1) Seat heaters, 2) paddle shifters, 3) Sirius First Wave.
And yes, our 2009 Audi A4 Avant has all of those, too. By the way, I realize that most people wouldn't cross-shop these. (The A4 is a $27K wagon while the Outlander is a $20K crossover SUV.) These are just my picks out of the variety of cars in our fleet for the particular purpose of dealing with rush-hour traffic.
Anyway, the reason the A4 comes in 2nd for me is that even though it has really excellent steering, its paddle shifters aren't as responsive as the Mitsu's. Most folks may appreciate the A4's refined, smooth shifting and call me crazy for liking the Outlander's loud and rough downshifts. But downshifting slows the car down quicker compared to the A4 so I'm more apt to use it than the Audi's during stop-and-go traffic.
With the A4, I have a minor panic attack as I quickly downshift to slow down, while the Mitsu instantly drops in speed.
But other than that, I love them both for making that hectic daily L.A. ritual a bit less aggravating. Just fire up the seat heaters, turn up The Cure and sit back and relax.
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor
vikstk says:
02:20 PM, 12/16/10
"The A4 is a $27K wagon while the Outlander is a $20K crossover SUV". I think you meant A4 is a $37K wagon ?
caroscuro says:
02:30 PM, 12/16/10
I meant the 2009 A4 wagon is $27K.
firstwagon says:
02:59 PM, 12/16/10
I don't know what they cost new in the US in 2009 but a 2011 right now in Canada is $42,800 before options... and I seem to remember you have a bunch of options on yours.
Are talking the used value of the A4 or are we really getting screwed up here?
hurls65 says:
03:00 PM, 12/16/10
My Avant doesn't have the paddle shifters... but I can't really see myself using them in socal traffic if I had them...
Isn't the whole idea of traffic driving to just let the slushbox do the thinking for you?
caroscuro says:
03:36 PM, 12/16/10
firstwagon,
$27K is used TMV. Just click on the link.
hurls65,
I just don't like braking all the time. I linked to my post on why I like the paddle shifters on the Mitsu. You guys don't like links, huh?
jazzor says:
04:15 AM, 12/17/10
Don't mind them Caro, half of them either don't even read the article, then post, or they read the article then proceed to post without further investigation in the matter... or maybe their input device's batteries had run out just before clicking that link!
steevmitch says:
11:59 AM, 12/17/10
here, here for First Wave. whenever i have to get a rental i shoot for something with sat radio cuz it makes life so much nicer. i pay XM just for First Wave. really. i listen to 1 station. dumb, but for me, totally worth it. Dallas also has nightmare traffic.
i have a manual row Gen Coupe and, oddly, it makes traffic crawl more engaging than just gas, brake, gas, brake, gas, braaaaaaaake....sigh. so i get it.
cheers.
firstwagon says:
12:47 PM, 12/17/10
"or maybe their input device's batteries had run out just before clicking that link!"
Or maybe they didn't notice that he made a word into a link for no obvious reason.
(most links buried in text just lead to annoying ads these days anyhow)