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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
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
Here we are in the Veracruz. The guy up front in his Celica doesn't realize the light turned green.
We're patient... waiting at least 3 full seconds before laying on the horn to get his attention. The driver waves his hand and accelerates away from the light.
Man, that feels good. Glad we fixed the horn in this thing.
Mike Schmidt, Manager of Vehicle Testing @ 21,600 miles
"What if the police pull you over because your horn doesn't work?"
"What would happen if an absent minded pedestrian wandered in your way and you had to sound the horn to draw his attention to you?"
"Don't you want the horn to work so that you can honk at the girls in LA?"
"A non-operational horn is like tires without tread. Not important till you need it in a hurry."
We heard it all. And fixed the horn by popular demand.
So now the honker works again. Let's all take a deep breath in - - and exhale. Both horn assemblies were replaced under warranty, as was the blown fuse. We also had the oil changed and tires rotated for $57.44.
Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager @ 21,547 miles
In a previous blog entry I mentioned that I had swapped the Veracruz out for the smart fortwo. The smart had an aux input and was more appropriate for the weekend I had planned. Plus I sort of like the smart.
I whined a little bit about the numb steering in the Veracruz offending me as a driver and left it at that. What I probably should have taken the time to mention was the steering feel being almost the same as what's found in Lexus vehicles-- one of the many elements of Lexus vehicles I happen to dislike. But that type of steering, along with the floaty ride and complete lack of road information transmitted to the driver are the kinds of thing that sells to people like my parents who happened to be visiting for the weekend and who happened to absolutely love the Veracruz
The horn still doesn't work on our Veracruz.
Still.
Josh Jacquot, Senior road test editor
My family has a seasonal cabin well north of Lake Tahoe that has to be closed for the winter. Well, winter is fast approaching so I raced the 9 hour drive up there to shut 'er down.
Thankfully I was handed the keys to the Veracruz. It had plenty of cargo room to stuff the extra anti-freeze, mouse traps, our extra warm blankets and food for our weekend in the mountains.
I got a late start, but the comfortable seats and quiet ride of the Veracruz were welcome luxuries. Also having XM to entertain me as my lady slept the entire way up was nice too. I got to listen to the ballgames and some political analysis from various sources. It might be rather desolate where my cabin is, but satellite radio keeps me in touch with the world.
Driving up the last of the mountain passes to my cabin, I kept my eye on the outside temp gauge which kept dropping. We arrived pretty late in the day to temperatures in the teens. The ground was frozen, the deck was covered with ice and it was windy.
I quickly went to work on what needed to happen on the exterior of the cabin before it got dark. When I stepped inside the cabin, it was noticeably colder. This wasn't going to be fun.
After draining all the water from the pipes and flushing them with antifreeze, dropping the mouse traps, shutting off the power and buttoning down the storm shutters we decided to ironman it back. We'd rather suffer for a little on another long drive than freeze the entire weekend in a cabin with no insulation.
Thank god those seats in the Veracruz are damn comfy with the added bonus of being heated.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
Our 2008 Hyundai Veracruz has a great interior, plenty of features and an attractive price. It's very competitive against other midsize or large crossovers, and I'd fully recommend it to someone shopping in this segment. But when I wonder if I'd buy one, the answer keeps coming back "no."
I think it's the styling. The soft and inoffensive curves put the Veracuz in the bland category, and the rear three-quarter look reminds me of an egg. This might seem like a petty thing to bring up, but if everything else is pretty much equal, I'd pay a bit more to get the classy look of our long-term Enclave.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
I took our 2008 Veracruz in for service today. Just like the last time at 7,500 miles, service was prompt and courteous at Lithia Hyundai in Fresno, Calif. An oil change and tire rotation this time set us back $54.64.
Due to a scheduling conflict on my part, I couldn't let the dealer spend enough time with the Veracruz to fix the horn.
As always, remind your friends and family that Edmunds has a nifty Dealer Ratings and Reviews feature, where you can write and read reviews about sales and service.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
I was thinking the other day (always a dangerous proposition, I know) and wondering how all the current (or really, really recently departed) Edmunds/Inside Line long-term vehicles stack up against each other in fuel economy, at least the fuel economy we've been recording during their time with us. So I made a list. For you and for me. In case we were both wondering.
The only current vehicles missing from my list are the Audi R8 and the Dodge Grand Caravan, and that's because no one has entered any fuel data into the tracking spreadsheet for those vehicles yet. The very top and the very bottom of the list aren't going to surprise anybody (I don't think), but the middle is kinda interesting. Seeing the Rondo and the WRX so close to each other made me raise my eyebrows. Ditto the Ford GT's spot above the Veracruz. Ready to check it all out? Follow the jump with me.
Back in July, we reported that our Hyundai Veracruz's horn still wasn't working but that the dealership had ordered a part for us. Two and half months later, the Veracruz is still beepless. It seems that the Hyundai dealership never called to tell us the part was in, and we absent-mindedly let the issue fall off our radar.
Meanwhile, it seems we also, uh, forgot to get the 15,000-mile service done. At least the dipstick's easy to find and pull (oil: A-OK and dirty). A dealer visit will hopefully occur later this week.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor @ 17,167 miles
People seem to feel strongly about HVAC controls. Well, actually, people seem to feel strongly about anything we write about the Aura. Two weeks ago I wrote this blog about the Aura's knob-free temperature controls. Today I'm pointing out a design I prefer -- three knobs, three buttons (for the primary controls). The Hyundai's HVAC system isn't an auto-climate-control design like the Aura's, but it also doesn't require punching a button six times to make a quick and significant temperature change.
Josh Jacquot, Senior road test editor @ 16, 851 miles
The picture at left is how the Veracruz's gauges look when the headlights are off. On the right is how they look with the headlights on. Both photos were taken in the same location at the same time with the same camera light setting.
While I don't need all the extra cobalt blue instrument lighting throughout the interior in daylight, it would be nice if the gauges remained fully lit during the day and then dimmed at night like most electroluminescent clusters.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 15,640 miles
This photo is proof that the full-size back door and frame I bought for my house this morning fit in our long-term 2008 Hyundai Veracruz. I had a hard time believing it myself. For the record, I did have to shove the passenger seat as far forward as possible, but the rear door did close for the 15 mile drive home from the door store.
Lets see my beloved BMW X5 do that.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
I keep finding more things to like about the Hyundai Veracruz - the Infinity stereo sounds good and I like this hidden storage area in the rear cargo area. Whatever you put back there has to share the space with the jack but it works out well for stuff you don't want sliding around, like say glass bottles of tea. Now that I see the pic that seems like a lot of tea - OK, I have a problem, it's a cry for help.
Brian Moody, Road Test Editor
I hopped into our Veracruz to run some quick errands and was immediately struck like everyone else by the cool lighting in our dark garage. It was a short lived awestruck moment.
As I started rolling along I noticed I had a very high level view of the car and I'm not even all that tall. I just thought it was a previous drivers setting and I hadn't fully adjusted the seat. But no, it was just the seat. I felt very uncomfortable at such altitude, like I was sitting on some large puffy cushion.
The power adjustments did nothing for me. It turned out to be my Nigel Tufnel moment of the day.
The seat would go none more lower.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
There was a time when you could see a Hyundai coming from a block or two away. It was usually identifiable by a huge cloud of white smoke billowing out from the tailpipe. They were the laughing stock of the highway. The parking lot pariah. I wouldn't have driven one if you paid me.
Fast forward 20-something years and here I am, getting paid to drive a Hyundai. Not only is there not any smoke, but there's leather, a decent stereo, climate control, heated power seats and a comfortable ride. In the old Excel you could count how many times the pistons smashed into the valves before punching them out of the head, but in the Veracruz, you'd have a heck of a time noticing if the car was idling. It's very smooth and very quiet.
Our Hyundai does not stand out or distinguish itself from any other CUV on the road. It has the manners of any other decent car. It blends in. And looking back at Hyundais of old, I think this is exactly what it needs to do.
Kurt Niebuhr, Photo Editor @ 15,208 miles
Just got back from a 2,000-mile round trip to Sunriver Oregon and have a few thoughts and photos to share. Things got off to a rough start as we were to enjoy a three-day rafting/camping excursion starting in Happy Camp, Calif. As the moody photo above shows, the wild fires still raging in Northern California put a kybosh on the Klamath trip. We discovered the Veracruz's recirculation mode on the HVAC system was up to the task. We didn't smell any smoke until we popped the door open to phone the rafting company (there's no cell service in Seiad Valley). With only a grey-white sky and an orange sun at noon, we had no choice but to push on.
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