Long-Term Road Tests

It had been quite some time since I last drove our long-term Kia Optima SX. And you know what? I'd forgotten what a genuinely nice car it really is.

I mean it's got the flashy styling that attracts attention if you're into that. A sporty-looking interior with generally nice materials. And seat coolers (I'm definitely into that).

But what gets me more than anything else...

This might be the single ugliest engine bay in our fleet. I mean, just look at the size of that oxygen sensor. And what's going on with that plastic toupee on the cylinder head?

Luckily for the Camry, none of this matters whatsoever. Few owners are every likely to bother popping the hood and even if they do they're not going to care what the exhaust manifold looks like.

What they do care about is how this engine feels like from behind the wheel and in that capacity I'd say it's pretty solid. No raspy noises, no odd vibrations, just a reasonable amount of power when you need it and decent mileage no matter how you drive it.

I think it would feel much peppier if the transmission was a little more aggressive, but I can see why it's tuned not to kick down too quickly. It's certainly enough performance for the average driver, so I imagine that V6 sales are going even lower than ever these days.

Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line

It's been almost a week since all those much anticipated Super Bowl car ads aired for the first time. Which one has stuck with you? (Note: I don't have a TV so don't know how often these are airing on network TV.) Frankly I'm surprised editor Al "Mr. Jennifer Lopez" Austria wasn't all over the Fiat 500 Abarth's Super Bowl ad. I mean, even I thought it was the best ad that aired during the game. Funny, stylish and sexy. Great shoes, supermodel Catrinel Menghia! J-Lo? Feh. By the way, what was Clint Eastwood selling again?

And, if you still don't know what the Abarth lady is saying, hit the jump for the commercial with translation as well as a Pop-Up Video edition of it. Happy Friday!

The preschool parking lot: it's the social club for minivans and SUVs. You don't see too many Quests, new or used. I have to give credit to Nissan for the styling direction of the latest Quest, though. The designers could have gone with bland in hopes of mass market appeal. Instead, we have the funky Japan van. You may or may not like it, but it does stand out.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor

By now we know the drill: At the auto shows I'll walk around searching out the cars from our Long Term test fleet that are on the show floor. Not only is it a good look at the show, but it's a good way to see what cars the manufacturers think will have the most impact on show goers.

Chicago, being a Midwestern show, had a big domestic showing with giant Jeep and Chevy displays. Jeep brought out Wranglers in colors you could never find out here and Chevy brought Sonics. Lots of them. Toyota also had a huge showing with over 40 cars on their massive display. The Camry, predictably, was well represented -- even our sporty SE trim was out.

As always, if they didn't have our exact car, I filled it in with something close.

The other day when I had to load a rolled-up 7'9 x 11' rug in our 2012 Nissan Quest, as soon as I hit the open buttons on the key fob for the two sliding doors (two separate buttons) and the rear hatch, my heart warmed a little toward this "mommy-mobile." 

Since the third row was already down, I was able to slide the rug into the van without any finagling. Just slid that in right down the middle til it cleared the rear threshold and hit between the two front seats. Didn't even have to touch the car. So cool. You may not think that's a big deal, but I liked the fact I didn't have to get my paws dirty. As you can tell, I don't have much experience with minivans. 

Minivans FTW!

Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor

Our Audi A8 has a feature called Lane Assist. It helps the driver stay in his lane by detecting when he strays and vibrating the steering wheel to get his attention. Great for long drives when you start to get a little tired and bored.

The system uses a camera to detect lane markers such as painted lines. It only works at speeds exceeding 40 mph and when the turn signal is not activated. You can turn this feature on and off by a switch on the turn signal stalk. According to the manual, it doesn't operate so well in snow or heavy rain for obvious reasons.

In Los Angeles, despite it being against the law, people text and talk on the phone all the time. I see many offenses every day. On my way home last night I saw a distracted driver texting on the freeway and swaying over the line to his left and right. Good thing the people around him were paying attention or he could have LOL'd himself right into another car.

I'm sure this happens in many other cities not just L.A. Wouldn't it be nice if all cars had this warning system?

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

But many don't. In fact, our 2012 Volkswagen Jetta TDI is one of the few I've run across with this feature.

Wait, what are we talking about?

It's the little "D" on the gas station POI list. I noticed it when using the navigation system POI feature after discovering the massive new Chevron station I pulled into did not have any diesel pumps. The 2009 Audi Q7 TDI I drove in the Audi Mileage Marathon didn't have this capability, nor did any of the contestants in our heavy-duty diesel truck shootout. 

Back in 2006 I was driving the Dodge Ram and towing the big yellow 10,000 pound trailer back from the test grade near Borrego Springs. At one point I needed to stop for fuel in an unfamiliar part of eastern San Diego county, but the "D-less" POI list on its navigation system was of no help. Much swearing and consternation ensued.

Past experience had taught me to put little faith in the presence or absence of diesel fuel price signs, which sometimes look like portable real estate "Open House" signs, but without balloons, so I eventually wheeled the big rig in and out of three gas stations before I found one with a diesel pump.

Automaker engineers that configure navigation systems generally do so on a corporate-wide basis, and diesel tends to get forgotten because it represents a tiny fraction of total sales here in North America. The two companies that supply map data to all automakers certainly know which stations have diesel, but that knowledge costs a bit more and the in-car database and display system has to reckon with another variable.

Yeah, implementing this feature requires a few extra calories. But the effort seems absolutely vital if you're the one who bought a diesel-powered machine and paid the princely sum they get for navigation -- especially when you're traveling outside your zone of familiarity.

If you're considering a diesel car or truck, punch up "gas station" on the POI list before you leave the showroom. And I think we'd all be interested to hear from diesel owners with navi about any other cars that do or do not have this feature.

Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing

This notification popped up on the screen in the Explorer last night. It was accompanied by a soothing announcement from Ms. Sync that asked if I would like to check the health of the Explorer.

This is part of a regular check up schedule and not the result of a suspected problem. After consulting the manual I found out that registered Sync users can have the diagnostics emailed to them so they can have the info ready should they want to schedule a service appointment. It can also send a text message to your phone if it's a serious issue.

At first it felt a little gimmicky, but if owners actually use the system correctly it seems like a good use of Sync's abilities. It's essentially a more sophisticated check engine light and given most owner's propensity to ignore such warnings, anything that gets them into the dealer to check a potential problem seems like a worthwhile feature.

Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line

Hit the jump and this video will walk you through many significant milestones in the long lifespan of the first-generation NSX. Tacked onto the end is the brief video Acura released last month showcasing the new NSX's powertrain and styling.

It's worth every second. All 466 of them.

You can get a lot of thinking done in the NSX. A few of our cars are like that. The 911 and Miata come to mind. You don't need the radio, just sounds from the road and engine bay. Driving the NSX is a bit like running (the jogging kind). You can clear your head after hustling three or four good miles, and you can do likewise covering a longer distance in a car like the NSX.

You don't need much aural stimulation beyond what the clutch, stick, throttle and rising V6 pitch offer. When you need variety, just downshift and roll on the throttle. It's like changing the station when the Eagles come on.

Haven't used the radio/tape deck in the NSX yet. Trying to see how long I can hold out. If one of Takahashi's Phil Collins mixtapes slides out from under the seat though, I might cave.  

Dan Frio, Automotive Editor

Normally, Bluetooth streaming audio is my last choice for audio sources. There are plenty of cars I've driven that have this feature, and most of them sacrifice some sound quality for convenience. Not our BMW X3, though.

It's Friday, so let's have some fun with a Sound Off. 

The engine and exhaust noises of our long-term 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 are quite nice. Those sounds are perhaps the best in InsideLine's long-term fleet.

Only one other car we have can even come close.

By request of our reader, commenter and pal subytrojan, a photo of the Nissan Quest conversation mirror. I've probably done him a disservice by shooting an empty cabin, with no perspective of other humans in the bendy glass. Nope. Just me, the dust, and an open bag of Teddy Grahams sliding around in one of the rear door pockets, a solitary man on his way to the car wash.

This high-performance, Nismo-spec convo mirror not only looks vaguely sci-fi sinister, like the visor of some mechanical villain from George Lucas's imagination, but its high-definition widescreen also makes it a pretty good analog blind-spot detector - a good supplement to the electronic referees already embedded in the Quest's side mirrors.

It also makes me think the Quest could devour that smartfortwo alongside in a single bite.

Dan Frio, Automotive Editor

I had this nice view on my drive home from work the other day, with the sun at the exact wrong angle.

And there's the problem with touch screens.

Mike Monticello, Road Test Editor @ 9,679 miles.

There I stood at the gas station, daydreaming in the general direction of our 2011 Honda Odyssey. This is what I was seeing. From nowhere an idea snuck into my head. Hey, what would happen if I opened the sliding door right now?

Since I've never driven our 911 at speeds over 120 miles an hour, I've never seen the point of the Turbo spoiler on a non Turbo car, until now.

Brilliant.

Kurt Niebuhr, Photo Editor @ 124,121 miles

Yes, that's fearless leader Scott Oldham standing under our 2011 Ford Mustang GT with a wrench in his hand. Our Rotary lift and the prospect of not havng to roll around on the concrete and mess up one of his "meeting" shirts was enough to lure him out of the office for a little DIY routine maintenance.

Draining the oil was easy enough thanks to our new elevated drain pan with its own tank and wheels. But such fancy tools are not required. There's nothing particularly difficult about the Mustang from a basic driveway maintenance standpoint.

I remember our 2005 BMW X3 well. It was in the pre-LTRTB era. On a weekend trip I drove it to Santa Barbara and back to Los Angeles with three passengers. The previous X3 had a very -- and I mean VERY -- stiff suspension. As the driver, I enjoyed the stiff ride but rear passengers felt every bump on the road. This new 2012 X3 is not soft by any means, but noticeably less harsh. I also found it easier to climb in and out and it feels roomier.

A lot of you are asking why we got this vehicle, no one could possibly be interested in the X3. Well, since inception the BMW X3 has sold over 600,000 units worldwide, leading this segment. So somebody cares. I know I do. This is exactly the type of vehicle I would consider purchasing. I would cross-shop it with my new crush, the 2013 Acura RDX and my old flame, the Audi A4 wagon.

I pulled out a few specs for comparison between our two long-termers seven years apart.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Not only does the S60 have concealed trunk hinges, it also offers these handy release levers for the rear seatbacks. Not sure why more cars don't have these, but they make loading something larger into the trunk much easier.

Climbing into the rear seat and releasing the seat backs from the inside isn't any great chore, but having exterior releases isn't exactly a massive feat of engineering either. I also noticed that the trunk is pretty large for a car in this class, or at least it looks that way since there aren't any significant intrusions. Overall, it's a well thought out setup that gives this sedan an added measure of practicality.

Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line

Took our Quest on a long highway drive yesterday. Nothing shocking about the experience -- it's a minivan. But a few positive qualities did stand out, most of which we're commented about before in various posts.

The CVT is a standout, particularly for climbing grades -- doing the same grade in the Sienna will have you reaching for its manual gear selector to get it out from its stubborn, sixth-gear programming. The Quest's steering is also pretty tidy, as is suspension tuning. Oh, and the fancy-pants air filtration system? Worked great for when I passed roadside dairy farms. Didn't smell a thing.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor

It’s pretty hard to see the Fiat 500 as anything other than a fashion accessory, lacking only a price tag fluttering from a door handle to be seen as some kind of teen girl’s handbag.

But really what we have here is an answer to a serious question about personal mobility, the thing that all the social scientists are wringing their hands about right now. What the Fiat 500 wants to be is its real self, the original 1936 Fiat Topolino.

And it all started with the two most important personalities in America at the time, Henry Ford and Mickey Mouse.

Here is Senior Editor Erin Riches with a video review of the 2012 Chevy Sonic. This video covers the whole Chevrolet Sonic model lineup but the action footage is Erin driving our long-term Sonic LTZ.

See the video after the jump...

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

As the car sign-out clipboard made its rounds yesterday, I made a very wise decision. I knew I was heading to a housewarming party on a street with limited parking.

The other night I got stuck in some pretty awful traffic. It ended up taking almost 30 minutes to get home from the supermarket, which was only a mile away. Besides fearing that my pint of Ben & Jerry's was turning into a milkshake in the trunk, the cabin started getting a little hot and stuffy. So, I hit the AC button.

What you see before you will soon be bolted to the underbelly of our 2012 Jeep Wrangler Sport. It's Mopar's new 3-inch "JK Wrangler Pre-Runner Suspension System - Stage III Performance" and we're going to DIY the installation and document the process.

No welding is involved, but there is a wee bit of cutting and drilling. Maybe some swearing. It should be fun.

Mopar sells two versions: part number P5156141 for the 2-door and P5156140 for the 4-door. Each costs $2,400 and includes everything shown on this bench.

The flyer I have here before me figures it take 6 hours to install assuming you are a Jeep dealer mechanic in full possession of the required skill, tools and equipment. The implication for those not looking for a DIY challenge is you can buy this setup at a Jeep dealer and pay them to install it for a nominal fee that probably amounts to whatever they charge for 6 hours of labor.

We fully expect it to take longer as we photograph the process for what should be the ultimate suspension teardown walkaround.

Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing

 
Our Mazda3's six-speed auto, set in default drive mode, is pretty sluggish on the throttle input. It's a little out of character for a car, and brand, known for sharp reactions. In manual mode though, it calls up the neighboring cog surprisingly quick. Since I spend most of my time in traffic flicking the lever up or tapping it back, I figure my left foot should also do something useful. If you're shopping this car, just get the manual.

If you must have the auto -- someone in the family can't drive stick and refuses to learn -- or you just want that seven percent improvement in fuel economy over the previous auto, this is not a bad box to live with. Just know that you'll be rowing back and forth a lot. I'd be curious to spend an entire tank of fuel with this car to see how that style impacts our average fuel economy.

Dan Frio, Automotive Editor

Last night, there was cold weather and a fair amount of rain, and the S60 didn't seem too crazy about it.

The cold start as I left from the parking structure here at work was rough. Made a pit stop at Whole Foods to get some groceries and the cold start after that detour was rough as well. I pressed the ignition button and the engine coughed and hacked for a moment or two, like a chain smoker with bronchitis, before finding its groove.

While walking my pup this morning, I walked past my neighbor's 199X Quest and couldn't help notice how dated it looks. Sure, most things, if not all things, from the '90s look outdated but it had me wondering how many people buy new cars with that thought in mind, how dated will their car of choice look in the future? After all not many cars age well. 

In fact, name a car that you think has aged well. (And I realize that this may not be so much an issue with minivans as other car types.)

Hit the jump for a side by side look at this old Quest and our 2012 Nissan Quest.

Go ahead. Try to not watch the video. I dare you.

I had a deja vu moment as I got into our BMW X3 yesterday. The key fob felt familiar, but it was bigger and chunkier in my hand. The seat's excellent lumbar adjustments were at my fingertips as always, but as I settled in, I sure had a whole lot loftier vista than usual. The iDrive was right where it belonged, but it was a mere island in the Fineline Sienna wood-trimmed console. I couldn't initially find the USB port -- it was lurking under a phone tray. Phone pairing was a snap -- just like always.

What the heck, you ask, is she talking about?

I love manual transmissions. I love mastering a heel-toe downshift so that's it's only heard, not felt. But I'm having a little difficulty with our little Miata.

This Sunday I'll be going on a "business trip" to Vegas, where I'll be driving a couple cars we haven't tested before. I could have requested our Audi A8 or BMW X3 for my journey, but why go with a safe, boring choice? And so I'll be taking our long-term Fiat 500.

This car doesn't have the best highway ride -- it's not harsh per se, but it is bouncy over the expansion joints -- and the wind noise is pretty significant at 70 mph. So we'll see how long it takes for this stuff to annoy me, or maybe it never will. The seats in this car are pretty cushy for a microcompact and seem like they might be road-trip-worthy.

I'm also going to hook up the car's special USB stick so we can track mpg in Fiat's EcoDrive program. Carroll started us down that path back in December, but we haven't been very diligent about tracking our driving habits, and Fiat doesn't make that super straightforward, as you have to download an application to your computer and then set up your own login credentials -- seems like it would be easier if Fiat just let you log into a website with one account that's unique to the car. But whatever, I'll use the Vegas trip to log some data in EcoDrive and report back.

Anything else you'd like to know about how our Cinquecento fares on this road trip?

No, that's not a new long-term car. I just wanted to show you our new app. We optimized our Edmunds app for the iPad and we think it looks pretty great. We're really excited about it and we hope you are, too. You can read the details here: http://edmu.in/edmipad

If you previously downloaded the Edmunds app to your iPad, you basically got the iPhone app repurposed for the pad. But this update is completely new and designed specifically for your iPad. It also includes a lot more features from the main Web site. And it's free.

Play around with it and let us know what you think. If you have any issues with it or suggestions, feel free to let us know so we can pass your comments on to our mobile team.

Here are some screen grabs. Click to enlarge:

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

One thing I like about driving bigger SUVs (and I do like SUVs) is that they have large outer mirrors. Newer cars, like some recent BMWs we've had through here, have tiny outer mirrors due to aero and, more importantly, styling considerations. 

Most carmakers realize that on big SUVs you need big mirrors for lane-changing and backing up, and that functionality is priortized over styling given the size of these vehicles.

But this isn't the case on our long-term 2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost. It has disappointingly small outer mirrors. They would be fine if they were on a regular sedan, but not on this thing.

Quite some time ago, we dug out some of the seat cushion foam to allow more headroom for our taller drivers. It's been a while since I drove the Miata, but I had the chance last night. I think we need to add some foam back in.

OK, our S60 doesn't need xenon headlights. The standard halogens are fine from a lighting standpoint. But having xenons would help support the premium feel of the rest of the car. It just doesn't quite seem like a luxury sedan with that yellowish halogen illumination. (FYI: The illumination in the photo looks a lot better than it does in person.)

Getting (adaptive) xenons for the T5 is surprisingly affordable -- MSRP is $800. After the jump I've listed some other entry-luxury sedans and how much it'll cost you got get xenons on them.

  The eBay auction on our 2011 Chevrolet Volt ended last night and while we got eight bids, none were high enough to meet the reserve. We started the bidding at $27,500 and after a few days it had gone up to $30,001.99. With about a day left in the auction, we slightly lowered the reserve and the "buy it now," price, hoping it would generate some last- minute bidding.

(photo by Scott Jacobs)

With January sales showing a 56-percent increase year-over-year, the Camry is enjoying a bit of a hot streak, and the model owes much of its current success to the SE trim. SE models accounted for only 7 percent of total sales in the previous-generation Camry, but in the wake of the car's 2012 redesign (which recast the SE as the line's most performance-oriented trim, with larger tires and a sport-tuned suspension), SE sales have swelled to 35 percent of the Camry's mix.

During an interview on Monday at the recent National Automobile Dealers Convention in Las Vegas, Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president of U.S. sales, said that the manufacturer plans to exploit the SE's popularity by bumping it up to 40-42 percent of total Camry production. Carter noted that the SE is especially popular with younger female buyers, and their presence has lowered the average age of all Camry buyers to 45 -- a figure that's lower than the segment average.

Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor

The Japanese arm of Honda's P.R. effort produced a video that went up on its YouTube channel last week. Considering the recent resurgence of all things NSX, this might be the right time to share this look back and look forward at the (Honda) Acura NSX. The chronological video pulls from archival testing (without the Senna footage), public-relations, and racing clips and it finishes with some pretty slick Polyphony Digital (Gran Turismo) X-ray magic revealing some more detail about the proposed 2012 Acura NSX powertrain. Click through to view...

We thought we could dodge the rain, but we were wrong. The plan was to bring our 2012 Jeep Wrangler to the obstacle course at Hungry Valley with both sets of tires for a shoot out.

Our goal was to see how the performance of our Jeep would change over the same stretch of ground -- see if the extra RTI and ground clearance afforded by the big 33-inch BFG tires would be obvious to the naked or camera-aided eye. Scott Jacobs came along to take stills while John Adolph shot video.

But things began looking gloomy when we finally arrived, so we dialed back our plan to push the Jeep to its absolute limit and settled for a simpler back-to-back comparison we knew we could finish before we all got dumped on.

The big BFG Mud-Terrain KM2s went first, for no other reason than they were already on the Jeep when we arrived.

Made some noise with friends at a house party this weekend to kick off Super Bowl weekend. We exhausted nearly every tune we knew and plenty more we didn't. Everyone was psyched for Sunday's game, finding their singing voice, and having a good time. The cops didn't even respond with a noise complaint until almost 2 am, which blew everyone's minds; we'd expected them by midnight.

There's something about hearing a turbo under acceleration that just makes me smile. My first experience with this was in a 2005 Subaru WRX STi. The whoosh and hiss absolutely did it for me. But in every modern BMW with a turbo, those sounds have been absent. Maybe that's a good thing, since I suppose most BMW owners wouldn't find it as appealing as I do. But it's there, you just have to listen for it.

There's a long list of things to get excited about within the swanky confines of our impeccably crafted A8, but one of my favorite things about the cabin is its handsome, well-designed steering wheel.

I like the grip circumference of it; it's easy to wrap your fingers around yet has a chunkiness about it that conveys just how substantial this car is. The steering wheel is one part of the car that the driver is always in contact with, and with the A8, it's interpreted in a way that's a pleasure to look at and to use.

Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor

Random Mustang trivia of the day - the word "Mustang" does not show up anywhere on the outside of the car, and the sill plate(s) is the only place on our longterm 2011 Ford Mustang GT where I could find it on static display.

Anyway, reader mail time. Comment "christople" asks:

So after 20k miles, between this and the 370z you guys had new which of the two would you want in your garage?

Hmm. In my garage? Hit the jump.

We were doing some business at Cars and Coffee last weekend and found ourselves parked in a pretty remote spot when this big white car slotted in beside us.

So, which car would you rather have, a red Fiat 500 Sport or a white Ferrari F430 Scuderia?

Yeah, well, us too. Strangely enough, our little part of the weekly 400-car C/C show had a little something to it, as you can see from this picture of a multi-car comparison.

Click through for the video...

Last week I asked our dear readers about the Brembos on our long-term 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0. In that piece, I mentioned the California Special edition which piqued the interest of at least a few of you.

If you are interested in the California Special edition Mustang, first you have to order the Mustang GT Premium (same as our test car) which includes Sync, the Shaker 500 audio system, and Sirius sat radio, among other items.

Then you order Equipment Group 402A, and this is what you get...

We've had two electric cars in our fleet, a Mini E and a Nissan Leaf. Accumulating miles on the two plug-ins was difficult due to their limited range. Neither could venture very far from home. After 12-months we had only driven the Mini 7,683 miles and the Leaf only covered 3,551 miles during its 6-month stay with us.  

Oh, I know, this plastic piece does serve a function of sorts, it just doesn't do it very well.

Snap it into place and you get spring loaded thumbs that theoretically hold your drink in better. Need more room? Just pull it out and you get one gigantic receptacle that could possibly hold three drinks if you're really that thirsty. 

In reality, the spring loaded thumbs don't grab all that well and when you pull the thing out it doesn't really give you that much more room. Would much prefer a more basic setup that concentrates on doing one thing well instead of two things poorly.

Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line

Something's wrong with our new X3's climate control. Judging from the temperature setting shown, you'd think that I was slow-roasting myself on the way home. Not so.

Update: The car is fine. I'm broken.

I pulled this image from the 2012 Chicago Auto Show site. According to the site: "Acura used the 1989 Chicago Auto Show to measure reaction to the prototype NS-X exotic sports car. The public loved it and it went on sale in the fall of 1990 as a 1991 model called NSX, minus the hyphen."

Follow the jump for a shot I snapped of the upcoming NSX at the 2012 North American International Auto Show last month in Detroit.

  I was at a Super Bowl party this weekend. Between mouthfuls of corn chips and guacamole, a fellow attendee who knows what I do for a living asked me what I was driving. I told him an S60.  He asked how it was. I replied that it's a nice sedan -- drives well, pretty comfortable, has a lot of features. "How much?" he asked. "Well, our car is loaded up. But mid 30s would be more typical," I said.

He nodded his head. Then he asked: "So why would somebody get an S60 when they could just get a loaded Optima instead?"

Super Bowl advertising influence, perhaps? But it's a good question.

I had our buxom A8 for the weekend because my in-laws were in town and the two coupes in our household were not going to be roomy enough for squiring the Texas Tornados around town, particularly to a festive dinner and brunch to celebrate their 28th anniversary.

On the night that we went to Sky Room, a deco-style rooftop restaurant in Long Beach, we rolled in what I've always heard called Jersey Style, meaning guys in front, girls in back. It cemented for me the fact that the A8L is really meant to be a chauffeur-driven vehicle.

It goes without saying that it's not nearly as much fun to ride in the A8 as it is to drive it, but it is a pretty luxurious perch back there. There are untold amounts of legroom, seat heaters, reading lights, nicely placed speakers, power rear privacy shades that let you "keep out natural and social elements" as the Audi brochure so delicately puts it. There's also some nice horseshoe-shaped burl wood trim on the back of the front seats upon which to meditate while James or Jane or whoever your driver is takes you to your destination. My mother-in-law and I were tempted to practice our QEII wave to the hoi polloi as we purred by. 

I was recently cruising eBay and AutoTrader for NSXs. I'm not in the market, just curious to see what they're going for. That's what many of us car guys do -- look at cars we're not going to buy. And judging by what I saw, it looks like we got a decent deal on our alluring Acura. 

  The Chevrolet Volt, and to a greater extent, plug-in hybrids, remind me of the combo VHS/DVD players from over a decade ago. Back then, many people were invested in their VHS tape collection and were hesitant to embrace the better, but more expensive DVD technology. The electronics companies noted this slow adoption rate, and released these VHS/DVD hybrids as a stop-gap measure. They offered the best of both worlds.

Some things don't need to be "improved." I submit the above. Thoughts?

Judging from all the comments on the intro blog post for our new 2012 BMW X3, sounds like a lot of you are already bored by this long-term trial before it even began. "I literally could not care less. I tried to care less and failed," said commenter mkboyardee, which made me giggle but also made me wonder, what could we possibly cover that would interest you?

I mean, you have no interest in hearing how much I liked driving the X3 over the weekend? That I loved the way it handled and how much power it has? How I'd gladly pick it as my road trip vehicle, rush-hour savior, dog-toting mobile? And, oh, don't get me started on those fab seat heaters.

So out of curiosity, what would you like to see us blog about on our X3? 

Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 1,975 miles

Video after the jump...

Hadn't seen a Quest taxi until this one appeared on my way to work today. If you're a fleet owner who needs a minivan, the Quest seems like an odd choice. Given its seat arrangement and load floor height I would think any of the other current offerings might be better suited to this task. 

I had a very enjoyable top down weekend in our Jeep. Between cruising L.A.'s beach towns with my kids and canine, I broke out the heat gun and the Goo Gone and rid our Wrangler of its unnecessary decoration.

The photo above illustrates the "before". The "after" is on the next page.

Mike Magrath has been tasked with doing the Edmunds rating on the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG. I've been tasked with doing the Edmunds model review on the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG. Though I was fully prepared to lirpa him to shreds in a fight to the death to get what could very well be my favorite car, luckily geography was on our side. We live in blocks away, and as we often do, made a switch midday Saturday after Magrath took the first round of custody. I can only imagine what a bystander would think seeing two guys flipping the keys to each other's wildly different cars then driving off.

Clearly, they'd think he'd lost this trade. Badly. Not quite Babe Ruth to the Yankees bad, but not good. Still, in order to make him feel better, here are 10 ways the Nissan Quest is better than a Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG

I didn't fill it to it's its true capacity which seems to be about eight bags of groceries -- and they didn't tumble and spill all over either. Also, there's more volume available beneath the floor.

You never know what you’ll find at the Porsche store. Like this car, for example, which a friend of ours happened to see as it was waiting to be picked up by its new owner. Seems kind of interesting, another Porsche 911 for a happy owner. Then you knock on the front fender and hear the distinctive resonance of carbon-fiber.

It turns out that this Porsche 911’s owner is Jeff Zwart, the well-known photographer and maker of commercial films, often for Porsche. This would also be the Jeff Zwart who is practically the king of the mountain at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, a class winner many times since 1989, and all in street-legal cars.

This is a street-legal car, too, even though it’s not intended for Pikes Peak. But it still turns out to be a pretty special 911, as in one that laps the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 7 min 27 sec.

So, there's this purposeful-looking slot dead-center on the Sonic's center stack... Is it some sort of audio-related port? Nope. It's much simpler than that, but certainly convenient.

Let's make one thing perfectly clear: This is not our 2012 Jeep Wrangler Sport. No one here at Edmunds has ever seen this Jeep before. We swear.

But alert reader Tracy (aka my wife) saw it whilst taking the kids to school this morning, mere blocks from my house.

The possibilities are endless. Before you go to the obvious place, consider these: perhaps this person competed in a cycling event and was later found to be doping, or maybe he (or she) was caught counting cards at the Pechanga Casino; it's also possible this person's Ford-Riley passed through tech after the 24-hours of Daytona and was found to be 75 pounds underweight.

Or maybe...

Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing 

My carport is a little wider than a typical compact parking space. (Note: Most vehicles short of an H2 or dually will fit, but one side of the 'port is a stucco wall, so if I'm dealing with a half-ton pickup, a bench seat is convenient as I can exit from the passenger side.) Our long-term 2012 Nissan Quest fits in here with room to spare. A couple nights ago I allowed what I thought would be a comfortable margin -- almost 2 feet -- to exit on the driver side of the Quest.

And indeed I could get out, but when I tried to leave the driver door open to retrieve items in and around the front-passenger seat, it wouldn't stay open... because I couldn't get the door open wide enough to hit that first detent. Forcing the issue was only going to result in having the door scrape against the wall. This was inconvenient. It would have been even more annoying in a crowded parking garage with another van or SUV parked next to me.

Our 2012 BMW X3 is eligible for the RTI ramp treatment because it is equipped with AWD and is SUV-shaped. If that's not enough acronyms for you, get a job with the DOD (Department of Defense). When I worked there some years ago I had access to a government/military acronym dictionary that was 3 inches think, containing many 3-layer nested sub-acronyms and initialisms. And yes, "fubar" was in there. Not sure about "RTFM." Had to be, right?

But I digress.

This photo above depicts the upper limit reached by our 2012 X3. The lower valance cleared easily at the bottom but as the suspension compressed it came into very slight contact with the cheese grater that is out ramp's traction surface. No little plastic shavings were produced, however.

With the previous-generation Jetta TDI, VW offered a supposedly sporty version called the Cup Street Edition. Shown above, it had a sport-tuned suspension, 18-inch wheels, upgraded brakes, paddle shifters for the DSG gearbox, a tasteful body kit and cloth sport seats. It also had questionable bodyside graphics I could do without. Sadly, it was rather disappointing when we put it through its paces on the test track. 

Still, I like the idea of an enthusiast-oriented version of the Jetta TDI, provided it's done right, of course. Am I deranged or does anyone else think this would be cool? 

John DiPietro, Automotive Editor

The BMW X3 was rated a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It achieved the highest rating in all categories, which includes front, side, rollover, and rear tests. To achieve this rating a vehicle must also offer standard electronic stability control.

The IIHS classifies the X3 as a midsize luxury SUV. Other top picks in this category are the Acura MDX, Audi Q5, Cadillac SRX, Infiniti EX35, Lexus RX, Lincoln MKT, Lincoln MKX, Mercedes GLK, Mercedes M-Class, Volvo XC60 and Volvo XC90.

It's a pretty safe segment. Do you own any cars on this list?

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Initially, our 2012 Toyota Camry SE comes across as inhospitable for AM/FM radio listeners. After all, it has the same ridiculously long reach to the tuning knob as our Sienna did. If I need to tune a new public radio station while driving (weaker stations don't always come up in seek/scan), I have to lean way forward in my seat to work the knob. It's uncomfortable and annoying.

However, the Camry's radio has one feature I really like.

It's been a lonnnng time since I've gotten behind the wheel of our 1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata but after seeing its empty dance card I had to take it out for some fresh air. And I'm glad I did. Jeepers, what a fun car! Even in traffic. So quick and zoomy. And here I was going on and on about what great city cars our Fiat 500 and Chevy Sonic are. 

It's the Miata that can kick rush-hour traffic's ass thanks to its small size and the fact it has a bit more get-up-and-go than the other two cars*.

And it's only the Miata I wouldn't fear parking on Hollywood streets or anywhere for that matter. No shiny new paint to scuff and no eye-catching, never-been-seen-before appeal to draw attention to it. Hooray for beaters!

In fact, I even daydreamed about some day owning this car. It's the perfect single person's city car, especially for the likes of me who goes all over L.A., from the highly congested streets of Downtown to fun, curvy roads like Sunset Boulevard.... Only thing is I don't have anywhere to put my dog Mya. 

* The Miata's 0-60 is 7.7 seconds while the Sonic's is 8.2 and the Fiat's is 10.4.

Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 134,877 miles

Our 2011 Chevrolet Volt is up for sale now and we decided it would make a great car to offer on eBayMotors. It's only a five-day auction, ending next Tuesday night, so get your bid in quickly. Here's a link to the auction page.

Philip Reed, Senior Consumer Advice Editor @ 14,900 miles

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

My favorite thing about our long-term 2012 Nissan Quest, by far, is its drivetrain. The previous Quest used a version of the VQ-series 3.5-liter V6, too, but the continuously variable transmission that Nissan has switched to on this generation changes everything.

This van feels utterly responsive when you step out to pass on the freeway, and the other vans in this class with conventional automatics simply don't.

My second favorite thing about this van is totally superficial: I love the exterior design. The Quest looks like it's related to any number of minivans -- large and small -- that I've seen in Japan. I have such a soft spot for JDM vans (especially the old Mitsubishi Delicas, which really don't look much like our Quest, save for their basic shape).

I have yet to meet anyone who's lukewarm on the styling of 2011 and later Nissan Quests. They either agree with me or they think I'm off my rocker. Which side are you on?

I was looking at our S60 T5's introduction recently and was reminded on how our car stickered at $41,350. It kind of seems like a lot of money, but our long-termer is loaded up with just about every option Volvo offers for the T5.

Buying a new, $40,000 entry-level luxury sedan doesn't really fit my budget or lifestyle right now. But it did occur to me that if you had 40 grand to spend, there's a pretty eclectic group of cool 2012 vehicles waiting for you. The usual suspects are here, of course -- the Audi A4, the BMW 328i, the Infiniti G. Then again, you could get a Ford Flex Titanium or a Ford Mustang Boss 302. Or maybe you'd want a Chrysler 300C, a Hyundai Genesis V6 or a Silverado 2500HD with the turbodiesel engine. Or you could go slightly used, opening up all sorts of other possibilities.

All you need is, well, $40,000. But given our S60's equipment, $40,000 seems like a competitive price.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor

We're trying to sell our 2011 Chevy Volt. But before it goes to a new home we wanted to put it up on our 2-post Rotary Lift . Go to the next page to get a detailed look at its bottom.

More pictures after the jump.

I'll admit it. I still want to love our 911. Just this morning I caught myself watching online videos of 911s sliding around in gravel and snow. I might hate the reality of our 911, but I love the romance of 911 race cars. Like this replica of the 1984 Dakar-winning car (technically a 953, I suppose).

Want.

Videos after the jump.

Every time I look at the gas gauge in the Explorer I can't help but think it looks like the icon is under water, or is it gasoline? Hard to tell with the cool blue color.

Maybe someday Explorers will actually run on a crisp clean H2O. Someday, in the future. The very, very distant future.

For now, we've got Ecoboost. Works for me.

Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line

We received this recall notice for our 2012 Chevrolet Sonic. Click the picture to enlarge. The first lines read, "Why is your vehicle being recalled? The front brake inner or outer pad may be missing." Oops.

Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager

Our long-term 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 is equipped with Brembo brakes. They're part of the $1695 Brembo Brake Package that includes 14-inch Brembo ventilated discs with four-piston fixed calipers on the front, and 11.8-inch Brembo ventilated discs with single-piston sliding calipers in the back. Included are 19 x 9 inch wheels (with a design I don't care for) mounted with 19-inch tires.

When we tested our long-term 5.0, we got braking distances for 30-0 mph of 27 feet and for 60-0, 109 ft. Within a week we also tested a Mustang GT with the California Special Package. This car was not equipped with Brembos (13.2 inch front and 11.8 rear discs) and produced 30-0 braking distances of 30 ft and 60-0 of 117 ft.

So we got 27 vs. 30 ft for 30-0 and 109 vs. 117 ft for 60-0, from our GT and the C/S, respectively. The Brembos must be the difference, right?

Hold up.

(Photo by Kurt Niebuhr)

That's what she said, I know.

Moving on, I don't think the NSX's sunvisor needs (needed) to be quite so large. Many other sports cars have a half-sized version that works better -- unless you're OK with driving using the Force.

James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 51,408 miles 

Our 2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI is a prime example of Exhibit E. Don't remember Exhibit E? I refer the jury to my recent iPod cord post on the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic.

Volkswagen and Audi are fond of short leashes that keep the device shut away in the glove box. One could argue this is OK for an iPod or other music-only device, but it eliminates the possibility of using any other iPhone function or app while the phone is docked as a music player, which in my case is 100 percent of the time I'm in the car.

And I'm talking about perfectly acceptable and legal uses such as any use while stopped, any use by your passenger (aka navigator) while moving. With smartphones, it's not enough to assume Bluetooth pairing for the phone and a physical dock for the music player is enough.

Photo by Kurt Niebuhr

In general, I'm pretty boring when it comes to car interiors. I like basic black, which may explain why I gravitate towards Audi cabins. Our new long-term BMW X3, however, is pretty far from basic.

  The last time we took our 2011 Chevrolet Volt for an appraisal at Carmax, the used-car superstore offered us $32,000. It was a solid price, but at the time we just wanted to get an idea of what the car was worth. That was about two months ago and we've put 2,000 more miles on it since. Now we are going to move forward with selling the car and this quote will serve as a reference point for our listing price.

This is the first time that we’ve taken a car for a second appraisal at Carmax and we weren't sure what to expect. Would it drop in price? Would it keep its value? Would the price go up?

This guy greeted me as I fired up our 2011 Honda Odyssey Monday morning. Did I mention it was 5am and a crisp 48 degrees (hey, that's cold for us)? Anyhow, it wasn't fun.

A check of the tires showed Odyssey's right-front down 5psi as compared to the others. This is typically evidence of a leak. Fifty cents at the gas station compressor bought me 15psi, which gave me 10psi over spec were the issue significant.

I drove 40 miles to the office and rechecked the pressures. No air lost. So I dropped the tire back down another 5psi, keeping it 5psi over the recommendation for the sake of monitoring. This morning the right-front was 5psi over-filled, right where I left it. I dropped it back down to the correct amount and we'll continue to watch it.

Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager @ 20,254 miles

My experience with the Toyota Camry goes back a few generations, and in all that time, I never liked the driver seat in any of the cars. Space was never the problem -- I'm 5-foot-10; most cars are designed to fit someone my size. Rather, it was the shape(lessness) of the seats themselves usually combined with a lack of firm support and adjustability.

The driver seat in our long-term 2012 Camry SE rights pretty much all of those wrongs. The shape is great for me, and there's ample adjustability (I can raise the seat without being dumped toward the pedals, I can telescope the steering wheel toward me, etc.).

And although I'll need to take a longer trip to know if the seat is really supportive enough, it felt fine during the drive to San Diego.

Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 3,333 miles

We've added a 2012 BMW X3 to our long-term fleet of test cars. We opted for the xDrive35i with the 300-horsepower turbocharged 3.0-liter inline 6 and eight-speed automatic transmission. If you played along with Caroline's guessing game, you know the EPA estimates a combined rating of 21 mpg.

We also added the Sport Activity, Cold Weather, Premium and Technology packages, which will give us lots of features to write about.

Read the full intro of the 2012 BMW X3 xDrive35i on Inside Line.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Thanks to Dan Edmunds' Oregon road trip, the Quest has already hit 5,000 miles. So far all is well, save for a small star on the lower part of the windshield (I don't think we've shown you that; I'll document it tomorrow). Compared to our long-term Odyssey and Sienna, the Quest stands out for its exceptionally quiet ride. I also think its CVT works better in a minivan than their five- and six-speed automatics.

I'd intended to catch this milestone exactly as the odometer "clicked over," but this was going on, and I wasn't able to pull over immediately.

This is our long-term 2012 Chevrolet Sonic's manual day/night mirror. I use the night function a lot when I'm driving small cars in the dark, and I'll usually toggle between the two frequently, depending on traffic density.

Notice how close the OnStar buttons are to the lever. When we first got the Sonic, I spent a long weekend with it... I really enjoy driving it -- good ride, good shifter, good torque. During that time, I accidentally called OnStar four times. After the second incident, I learned to use the cancel function that comes up on the car's head unit.

OnStar buttons on a manual day/night mirror... not a good combination.

Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 2,481 miles

I like heat. Our 2012 Audi A8L has a heated steering wheel. I'm happy.

I'll admit I didn't know our A8 had a heated steering wheel until I RTMed. I never felt it past that large switch for adjusting the position. It was a surprise find. And a good reason to always RTM.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor @ 9,228 miles

Our friend the ride engineer took a turn in our wayback machine, driving the 1991 Acura NSX. It took him back to the time when the 1990 Nissan 300ZX Turbo was brand new.

We didn’t find any place to drive fast, so we just pottered about in the dark for an hour or so.  Since he had arrived in a Nissan GT-R, his first observation wasn’t much of a surprise.

“Sure rides good,” he said.

Black body, black wheels and a red roof with red mirror caps. Garish? Yeah, probably. But it looked a whole heck of a lot better than our car. The all black cleans up the car's lines while the red brings in some needed sportiness.

The odd thing is, I can't seem to build this combination with Mini's configurator. Black is easy, of course, but there's no option for a contrasting red roof. Perhaps this one was a custom order or had a custom paint job.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor

Our 2012 Jeep Wrangler is begging for new shocks, and a mild 2-inch lift kit has always been on our "to-do" list. There are many options out there that achieve both goals at once, but these remote reservoir Fox shocks sealed the deal.

Aren't they pretty...awesome?

They come as part of Mopar's new JK Wrangler Pre-Runner Suspension System, along with springs, new control arms to maintain proper alignment and driveshaft angles, new stabilizer links, limit straps and bump stops. And the front bump stops are TeraFlex Speedbump hydraulic units.

As the name implies, this so-called Stage-III kit isn't just for rock crawling; it's also meant to keep the tires planted in the comparitively high-speed wheeling environment found in Southern California's open deserts and fire roads -- something our Jeep sorely needs. If you want to draw parallels to the Ford Raptor, go right ahead. I'm not going to stop you.

Thing is, this is a 3-inch lift kit -- slightly more than I had in mind. But at least it's not 4-inches. That would have been too much.

As a former OE suspension development engineer myself, I like the idea of going with a kit the Jeep's Mopar division had a hand in. It's been tested and blessed by the folks that built our Wrangler in the first place. Few other such kits can say that.

Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing  

The juvenile in me giggles when I hear a car has massaging seats. It seems slightly naughty to me in a way that only a Catholic school education can teach you. When you got detention for chewing gum or rolling up your sleeves or even wearing nail polish ("you bold, brazen article!") massaging seats sound almost sinful. That's a direct nun quote by the way.

Massaging seats are an innovative way to keep a driver awake on long trips. They can also provide relief on your commute home if your desk chair isn't particularly supportive. Or it can help your sore posterior after you've spent an hour at the gym.

The seats in the Audi A8L have several settings and intensity levels. Wave was my favorite. Pulse was pretty good. Stretch was subtle.

What's your take on massaging seats in a car?

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

I wasn't planning to make an appearance at yesterday's local elementary Career Day, or I would have tried to dig up something a little more inspirational than a minivan.

This is a lot of headlight for a car that cost $25,520. But it's not as good as the superb headlights in our long-term Camry.

The 3, by virtue of being equipped with the Technology Package, includes Bi-Xenon headlights with an auto-leveling feature and an adaptive (self aiming) feature, which points the lights into a turn.

Volt here (for some reason I really dig these aliens). Sonic here. Kia Optima here. (FIVE HOURS of Adriana Lima.)

Everything we've got on Super Bowl ads here.

Mike Magrath, Features Editor, Inside Line

So while I was amassing all the updated fuel numbers of our long-termers for January's big list of fuel economy, editor Ron Montoya also sent me the numbers for our new mystery long-term vehicle. Naturally I couldn't include it in the list since the intro for it doesn't go up til tomorrow.

But, how good a guesser are you? Can you guess what the new long-termer is just based on its best, worst and average? By the way, the above photo is just clip art.

Hit the jump for the mpg.