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Comments
But man, was the thing noisy! It was so loud on the freeway I didn't hear my cell phone ring! And everything inside was hard plastic- everywhere!
I'd never pay $15k for this thing when I could buy a hyundai for much less.
It's no wonder American car companies are doing so poorly if this is what we get.
I was really glad to get my wife's car back too!
tom
ps I don't get the 'scared' either. :confuse:
Cheers Pat.
It could just be sampline error though based on my last few rental cars!
tom
Cheers Pat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG0WkOx8y90
~Colin
On the other hand anybody remember the years when the screaming from domestic manufacturers got quotas slapped on Japanese manufacturers. This was allegedly to give domestics a chance catch up. What happened was the domestic manufacturers shoved their heads in the sand and their [non-permissible content removed] in the air and carried on business as usual.
Cheers Pat.
I agree with Loosh, it would have made a good ad for say the Dodge Viper but just came off as totally rediculous for the rental fleet destined Caliber.
-Frank
Detroit just doesn't get it, I'm convinced. Even as the same global companies churn out good product abroad.
At thousands less, I've been recommending it to anyone, whether they're on a budget or not.
The only domestics I'd consider? C6 vette (esp the Z06). Ford GT. Dodge Viper. Suburban/Yukon. Maybe a Caddy/Lincoln if you have to have a great big american sedan-yacht. That's about it. I'd love to give the domestics some of my money- if they'd build something worth buying!
tom
We just spent 4 days in Arizona and had a Malibu LT V6 as a rental car. Boy, that must have been worse than your Caliber.
The seats are lumpy, awful really. The ergonomics are all inconsistent, I kept having to try 2-3 times to do get it right.
The V6 is actually not bad, torquey for sure, but it sounded raspy at the high end.
The steering was WAY too light, and it wandered all over the road. I-10 between Phoenix and Tucon has a speed limit of 75 but at 80mph this thing felt unstable. Maybe the alignment was off.
Just cheap in every way, too.
I did like a few things - the low-end torque of the V6, the rear leg room, and the remote trunk release on the key fob actually popped the trunk. We got 27mpg, too.
But overall the Malibu is way, way behind the Hyundai Sonata. Light year. Maybe 2 generations' worth of improvements for Chevy to catch up to Hyundai.
That's bad.
-juice
***
Now, to the Odyssey.
Just spent about 4 days in Arizona and the people we stayed with had an Odyssey EX-L. I got to drive it a couple of time, and rode in it plenty, for several days. So I got a good feel for living with one.
First off, the space is nice, the storage nooks and crannies, the power, the ergonomics, the luggage space. All A+.
But...it was loud, both road and wind noise intrudes. The ride was rougher than I expected. It handled well but this is a van and it just felt unnatural pushing it, so basically that didn't matter to me.
The other complaint was the seats. The leather is hard and it just didn't accomodate well, oddly. To be fair the front row wasn't too bad, it was the 2nd row seats that just didn't feel right. But even the driver's seat lacked side support and the lumbar adjustment just felt like a lump in my back.
It had only 6000 miles so maybe it wasn't broken in yet, but the seats need improvement.
The trip computer lacked some features even our cheap rental Malibu had, like MPG readout. Or maybe I couldn't figure out how to display that (please correct me if you know otherwise).
They spent over $30k for this van and it just didn't feel that "rich", I guess is the word I'm looking for. We spent a week in an Odyssey and it just felt a lot more expensive.
Another comparison is a Sienna that we got to ride in. I was similarly impressed with the space and storage, but the ride was much quieter and smoother, too. That friend paid $23k and it just seemed like a much better value for the money. He also got 8 real seats. The 8th seat in the Ody is a bad joke.
So, oddly enough, right now my two front-runners are the 07 Sienna or the CPO 06 Tribeca. The 'beca would be that lightly used one with 8k miles I found locally, and the Sienna I'd wait for the 3.5l V6 to appear in January, since it'll bring a lot more power than the current 3.3l model, and hopefully more fuel efficiency.
That's my thinking right now.
-juice
Yo Juice! You got a lot of nerve flying into Phoenix and not even saying hi!
-Frank
The only member I could think of was Karen, I did send a shout out to her. She gave me a few tips on what to see.
We really didn't spend enough time there. Got in on Thursday night, and came back Sunday afternoon, less than 3 full days. Next time we'll spend 5-7 days or so, including a day in Phoenix.
We spent the entire time in Tucson, actually, just flew in to Phoenix because flights to Tucson cost a fortune.
-juice
~c
The surrounding mountains are gorgeous, but the land is barren and everything looks dead. It's dusty and desolate. I like a saguaro cactus, don't get me wrong, but there just isn't enough green for my tastes.
I do like the architecture, especially the tile roofs. Reminds me of Brazil in some ways. Even the stucco (sp?) is neat.
The roads are straight as an arrow and sort of boring, to be honest. Only when we got up near the mountains did they get even remotely interesting. Not many fun roads.
Food was great.
People are so laid back, too. I got back here and thought, what's the rush!?
-juice
Touché! (It's been updated now) :P
We got here near the end of the really miserable weather and are now enjoying a seemingly unending stretch of warm suuny days (at least until next June).
-Frank
-juice
As far as the desert landscape goes... yes it does take some getting use to. Personally, I think many parts of the Southwest are just as beautiful as parts of New England, just in a very different way. Of course some newcomers can't get over the lack of "green" but most others eventually adjust.
Roads in the valleys are frequently straight as an arrow with everything running either north-south or east-west. Boring yes but it does make finding your way around incredibly easy (even for the directionally challenged)
I got to disagree regarding the number of fun roads, there are few places in Arizona that aren’t far from a mountain range with twisty roads and any number of off-roading possibilities
Of course since a job transfer moved me to Phoenix, I'm making the best of it and trying to accentuate the positive!
-Frank
There's more to it, more to do.
We went to the Grand Canyon, saw Flagstaff, Slippery Rock (boy that water is cold!). So we saw all the variation in the climate, that was cool. Some SERIOUS hills to climb, too, I'm sure that XT's turbo comes in handy.
We were in a Toyota pickup and it was wheezing along, it struggled to climg so badly that we had to switch drivers to someone that was more aggressive and used lower gears.
My friend went to Grand Canyon College, if you know where that is. It's been a while, haven't been there since the late 80s.
-juice
-Frank
-juice
http://www.subie.tv/player/?videoid=96
Here's press announcement at SEMA. There are 2 videos here, one announcing the Forester Sport concept.
http://www.subie.tv/player/?videoid=96
Bob
BTW,I select "remember me" every time and it never does
I also asked the sales manager, and he told me the same thing. Well, I knew I had read it somewhere. Came back home and searched in Edmunds. It seems to me the only thing different is the model name ... why do they want to be so 'cagey' about it? .. or is it possible they just don't know ...
Cheers Pat.
are always done is bland colors?? ie: When you buy a ANY car today the interior (and most of the time) the exterior looks like seating for "The almost dead"?
I haven't seen a 2007 car that has a good looking color scheme yet. 98% of all new car interiors are egg shell, gray, black tan, etc. NO red, blue, yellow Green. Subaru inteiors are all very bland.
I used to drive Cadillac's back in the 70's and 80's. I could get any color of leather I wanted. They were very nice. Not just all Bland! If you had a yellow Cad. you could get yellow cloth or Leather interior! That goes for green, red, blue, brown, black white, aqua, etc.
I have not bought a new car in years and I'm not going to until I can get an interior that doens't scream (undertaker) evertime you get in!
What's the problem? The only cars with color in the interior are the ones with the camel interior.
No colors, no sale!
Subcompacts are popular in most other parts of the world, and in fact the Versa has already been on sale in other countries previous to 2007. (Outside of the U.S., it's called the Tiida.) North American consumers, however, seem to have cyclical interest in this type of car. To temper this, the 2007 Nissan Versa follows a next-generation approach to subcompact design.
???
-mike
It's too expensive for most marques to offer lots of color combinations, never mind the fact that Cadillac and Subaru were (and still are) in very different price points. I doubt even Cadillac offers the myriad interior/exterior combinations you were offered in the past.
Especially considering that they don't sell near as many caddys as they use to :P
-Frank
People like white, gray, beige. That's what sells most.
If you don't like Subaru's colors, wait a year, they seem to change the pallette every year.
-juice
'07 Legacy Spec B has blue Alcantra inserts.
Subaru does offered other colored interior in Japan. For example, the newest edition of the R2 model offers violet exterior w/blue interior, and mocha bronze exterior w/red interior. It seems to be only the seats (& maybe floor mats?) that are offered in the colors, though, not the console or dash.
I saw a Suburban at the dealership with a purple leather interior (UW Huskies team color). It was gross. But, whatever you want. To each his/her own.
I remember growing up we had an old Ford thunderbird with a white leather interior. It quickly became a grey leather interior over time!
tom
-mike
At home.. no plans anytime soon.
~Colin
tom
-mike
Can you guys tell us when all the bugs have been worked out of it and it's safe to use? I'm still waiting for XP to be safe
<<<<
i have been pushing windows vista ultimate x86 pretty hard since last friday without a single crash. the security question popups get very annoying but outside of that a very pleasureable experience. i like it.