>Is this RDS? This is the Navi system on UK/Euro Outlanders
Yup! That's RDS. It can also display the current artist/track. I know that they use RDS over here as my wife's G35 Infiniti can display the information. Even the basic radio that comes in the Outlander displays RDS info according to the manual!! It looks like they have specifically disabled the RDS info on the Nav system radios, as all I ever see are the station frequencies of the presets. Probably to force you to use Sat. radio as that will show you the station/track/artist
I think it is time for you to trade it in for a super quiet Equinox. They should be on sale now. Seriously, you will hear cross wind noise in any SUV with roof rack and taller body than sedan. Go ahead and rent one for a few days and compare. Of course you have to turn down your radio too.
Try acrylic side window wind deflectors available in a custom fit from various suppliers. Try a elip-on side mirror extension to fill the gap with the body, or mold a piece of clay in this area. Try inserting extra weatherstripping or tubing within existing weatherstripping. In addition to removing the roof rack, all of these are cheap, reversible, and should help you narrow it down. A bit more extensive would be removing door panels and roof liner to insert some insulation blankets.
I work for a car rental company and we just got our first fleet of Outlander's. I must say they look pretty neat and sporty. Customers initial reactions were good. I test drove a couple of them inside the lot, FWD and 4WD. Interior looks cool and attractive. All of them are LS trim level. The tailgate is the best design ever. Yes, a bunch of them have the famous "CLUNK" noise when turning the wheels while reversing. I personally haven't test driven it outside the lot, so about road noise i can't really tell yet. Steering wheel is thick and feels awesome in hand. Black on black combo color is my personal favorite. I can't wait to rent one and go on a trip to really feel and experience all the Outlander features. But aside the "CLUNK" the vehicle is very well constructed and quality is tight. In my opinion, Toyota's Rav4 engine is very noisy. Both Rav4 and Outlander interior's are plastic but of acceptable quality on both cases.
That if the road noise is any worse than in any other SUV. Some of as may find it normal, others (who never owned one) my think it is excessive. "..but noticed on some high-wind sections, the seals around the rear doors get loud.." J.Dryden in March MT, about Tacoma, "The Santa Fe cabin admitted more wind and road noise at highway speeds, though a peculiar whistle afflicted the Murano just between 20 and 30 mph", (comparo from the same issue) And one more from this article: "Tall, blocky styling creates truckish aero drag.." We can go on with this forever, or better find out, if this is a real problem with this car, like "clunk" in the suspension reported by way more than two owners.
Forgot to ask, which rental company and what city are you in? Do you know if they are available in Chicago area from your chain? Also how much it cost to rent it for the weekend?
Alamo/National car rental in Orlando FL. Rates for cars change every day and depend by location...so its impossible for me to tell you how much would be. And to the Chevy Equinox fan for its "quietness".....You would also love too the sub par reliability, mediocre power steering and chassis, Poor fitting/quality of interior plus poor fuel economy. YEAH GO CHEVY! I live and eat GM products every day for work dude....don't give me the QUIET SUV crap because it won't work. As excellent as the Uplander, HHR and Cobalt. Perfect examples of engineering excellence.
I didn't take the time to do that but I can tell you that there are nine active Forums discussions here with the word "lemon" in them - and none of those also contain either Equinox or Outlander. :shades:
Yes sir....sad but true, but also we have Toyota, Kia, Hyundai. In certain markets we have Nissan, Infiniti's.....so its pretty much standard to see this on rental fleets. All except Honda ive seen.
I've been driving my Aqua XLS 4 WD {no other options}for over a month now....
Although it and the CX-7 have the best front seats of all the SUV's I tested, the XLS seat bottom still needs another inch or so for thigh support for "my" longer bones...The flat Santa Fe front seat turned me off on that ride..CX-7 has a very good front seat but I didn't want a turbo 4 cylinder plus the Mazda has AC issues...
I dropped the tire pressure down to 34 psi from 46 the factory had put in and now it is the perfect ride for what I need the car to do...Good flat cornering and soft ride on washboard roads...The suspension is very firm and stays anchored to the road...
I took out the rear headrests for more rear visibility and I keep the 3rd row seat erected all the time...This little seat is a good baffle to keep grocery bags steady and the rear of the jump seat is used to hang up wet jogging attire on the way home after my daily runs..
The black cloth seats are high quality and I don't slide around while doing brisk driving ..However, I keep a lint roller handy for a once a week clean up of dust, dandruff, and lint...When they are clean, the black cloth is beautiful...
I built a little armrest for my left elbow out of styrofoam and a mouse pad top covered in black pantyhose and anchored to the side door panel with carpet tape...It adds 4" to the existing door armrest that is too low for my liking..
I love the power and the handling of this ride and have no regrets....6 speed tranny is perfectly geared and the V6 engine is very quiet when idle but it does have a pleasant growl that I love when accelerating....I occasionally have the front end click spoken of here but I will wait to see if there is a tech bulletin coming...The noise does seem to be diminishing though.
This XLS rides as good as my friend's Lexus 330 that he paid 40 G's for a few years ago...And the base sound system in the XLS is higher quality. I didn't want the Fosgate..
The 4WD is hands down THE BEST of all the Crossovers that I tested..The Selector switch is exatly what I need for City usage, mountain trailhead access, and Forest road usage..Can't wait to get this baby up to Colorado...
There is actually a TSB for this clunk problem which i saw in another outlander forum. The bulletin was released a few days ago and the number is TSB-07-26-001.
I kept changing colors from graphite to black and then after ordering black, changed it to silver. Today, I changed it to Aqua metallic. Now that I got the VIN, its fixed.
So, the question is whether aqua marine color is a good choice or not? I saw in the pics from worldcarfans and liked it. Not sure how it will look in the real world as there is no aqua around here in dealer lots which are not many to begin with. Anyone like the aqua?
At the dealership where I bought mine, they had Aqua, but I missed it after the salesman made some empty promises he'd get me a graphite gray, and somebody bought it the day before he called me he can't find me a graphite gray to my exact specs. So he ended up offering me a fully loaded XLS 2WD which he thought he'd get away by selling it to me for the same price as the quote for a fully loaded 4WD XLS. I didn't even have to open the door. The minute I saw the vehicle, newly washed, and I was about to drive it home, I never even have to open the door to realize he ripped me off. So I ended up with my current black XLS 4WD, which I fell in love with, and looking back, I would have really liked the black than the gray, so all was a blessing in disguise. It doesn't matter what people like, what matters is what you like. If I got the chance to grab that Aqua, I would have, but because of the salesman's sleaziness, I ended up with a color that I actually like. Not that Aqua is bad, but it's just that I like black better. In fact I would take any color available that time, as long as the options are to my exact specs. It's a nice color and I bet there wouldn't be too many on the road with that color. Which is actually a good thing making it more unique. Not because Aqua is not a nice color, but because I think it's not easy to get one in that color.
I got the vehicles ordered just the way I wanted but I am really confused with the color pallette. On the website, aqua shows more like light green or pastel green. But phots from WCF show it more like light blue. If its light blue, then its okay but light green would not be to my taste. Here's what I have in my mind
Now just go to mitsu website and try to build an 07 outlander. You will get the color decision on the third page. Click on aqua and you'll see that it is completely different.
The gamut of colors for the monitor can never equal the richness of the actual vehicle paint. I saw it, and it's not like the photo you posted. What you are showing us is the pre-production Outlander for the US market, and that's not the aqua color. Here's how the Aqua metallic Outlander will look like. Might vary slightly with the actual paint color but I think what I have is one of the better representation of the color.
I like it. It is better than what was shown on the website. Living in snowbelt means all dark colors are out for me. Dont want the salt and dirt to show. I already had white before and was not going to get it again. Silver is ubiquitous and seems rather sterile. Not everyone gets the silver right and that includes mitsu. That leaves with aqua as the only other choice.
It looks a little less saturated than the lower photo, in person. I've seen it in various lighting conditions and thought it attractive, but would prefer it more intense. I'd describe it as a light aqua and definitely not a powerful aqua like Mazda has in their Phantom Blue hue, which is an incredible sea-like color. It is definitely more greenish than the light blue photo shown above. I'm vacillating between it and the navy blue w/tan interior for preference.
Are you guys going to go by the manual and use 5w20? What are the warranty implications if 5w30 is used? I heard that 5w20 is bad for engines in the long run... 5w30 should be just fine however since it shears down to 20wt anyways. Point of 5w20 seems to be just the CAFE advantage for manufacturer and mileage gains of a few meters is not noticeable anyways..
I think color on your pictures look close to real thing. At least on my screen. And you can have black interior with this color if this is what you want. Dark blue is nicer IMO, but come only with beige.
Okay.. I like the aqua marine color but I changed my preference again for like the umpteenth time. Dealer is getting pissed since he already gave me the VIN blah blah.. whatever.. I started with graphite in my mind then ordered black. Changed my order from black to silver and then to aqua. After getting the VIN, I changed back to silver and then finally to graphite gray pearl. whew :surprise: I didnt give this much thought when I was wondering what type of vehicle I needed to buy.
Here's a video clip I took the last time it snowed. Unlucky for us, the plow guy didn't do our driveway, so I had to literally plow over my Outlander before the powdery snow gets hard. Nothing exciting, just a brief preview of Outlander in 4WD Auto action in snow about a foot thick. This is a camera in video mode so I can't really record long videos.
So you didn't have to use the 4WD Lock. From your video it looks like a walk in the park. No wheel spinning at all. Do you know if the ASC can be disengaged and under which circumstances? I know there is a ASC button on the left side of the steering wheel, but is that a switch or just some sort of indicator? Is there any drawback in using 4WD Lock all the time other than taking a hit on gas mileage?
from my understanding if you press and hold that button it turns it off until you reach a certain speed. Maybe not 100% accurate but I know you CAN turn it off.
It should be described in the Owner's Manual, but this only comes with the vehicle which I don't have yet. It would be great to be able to turn it off and keep it off until you reactivate it. It would offer the option to have more control over the car if you want to.
Yep. No wheel spinning at all. And that's 4WD auto, not lock. Lock mode sends a fixed amount of torque in the rear, and this torque is greater than what is sent to the front wheels. This will help propel the vehicle in slippery conditions like when it's snowing or in an off-road condition. However, driving in this mode in dry pavement or asphalt will result in premature tire wear. But even when there slush or rain, I just drive in 4WD auto mode. Maybe this spring/summer I will get the chance to drive my Outlander in some good off-road track.
Yes you can disable ASC. The ASC button will serve as an on/off button. It is activated by default when you turn on the vehicle, and can be turned off thereafter by pressing the ASC OFF button for 3 sec. When deactivated, an ASC OFF indicator will appear in the dash display.
When the ASC is OFF, does it stays OFF until it is reactivated by pressing the button or it does reactivate itself under certain conditions - e.g. over a certain speed or if it detects slippery conditions?
I used 4WD lock the other day when there was this freak snow storm. It worked like a charm. I was running circles around all the fwd cars which were slipping and sliding in ice/snow. :P
But the real kicker is when going uphill on icy/snowy back roads, you dont feel as if there is any wheel slipping. It was great and reassuring. :shades:
However, I would like to warn others not to get too cocky since 4wd only gets you going deceptively fast in bad conditions but does not let you stop any better. My brake pedal shook violently as the ABS with EBD worked its magic. :sick:
Not sure how ASC comes into play but I will not switch it off for any reason. Leave it on.. it might just save your butt.
Also, the ASC is explained in depth in the Manual... The manual recommends that it be in the OFF position when getting out of deep snow..
This is exactly the reason I'm asking. This is a big plus on the new Outlander versus RAV4's VSC which cannot be switched off. Now I only need to determine if it automatically re-activates or not. My guess is that is does not, but just checking.
"Point of 5w20 seems to be just the CAFE advantage for manufacturer and mileage gains of a few meters is not noticeable anyways.. " Actually, MPG gains have been from 1 to 2 MPG gain using a 20 weight over a 30 weight. The 20 reduces overall wear because it flows better at startup, where most wear occurs, and the running wear rates between a 20 and a 30 are very similar. Ford, Chrysler, Honda, and Mitsu all specify 0w-20 or 5w-20, and it works great.
" I just drive in 4WD auto mode." Will that cost MPG? 99.99% of the time, isn't front wheel drive just fine? Does Mitsu say MPG will be best in front wheel drive mode?
Check out the videos (#3 and #4) of the Outlander in the snow, even though they are speaking Japanese it's still pretty easy to see the results of their testing. Pretty impressive.
Comments
Yup! That's RDS. It can also display the current artist/track. I know that they use RDS over here as my wife's G35 Infiniti can display the information. Even the basic radio that comes in the Outlander displays RDS info according to the manual!! It looks like they have specifically disabled the RDS info on the Nav system radios, as all I ever see are the station frequencies of the presets. Probably to force you to use Sat. radio as that will show you the station/track/artist
"..but noticed on some high-wind sections, the seals around the rear doors get loud.." J.Dryden in March MT, about Tacoma,
"The Santa Fe cabin admitted more wind and road noise at highway speeds, though a peculiar whistle afflicted the Murano just between 20 and 30 mph", (comparo from the same issue) And one more from this article:
"Tall, blocky styling creates truckish aero drag.."
We can go on with this forever, or better find out, if this is a real problem with this car, like "clunk" in the suspension reported by way more than two owners.
I didn't take the time to do that but I can tell you that there are nine active Forums discussions here with the word "lemon" in them - and none of those also contain either Equinox or Outlander. :shades:
tidester, host
Although it and the CX-7 have the best front seats of all the SUV's I tested, the XLS seat bottom still needs another inch or so for thigh support for "my" longer bones...The flat Santa Fe front seat turned me off on that ride..CX-7 has a very good front seat but I didn't want a turbo 4 cylinder plus the Mazda has AC issues...
I dropped the tire pressure down to 34 psi from 46 the factory had put in and now it is the perfect ride for what I need the car to do...Good flat cornering and soft ride on washboard roads...The suspension is very firm and stays anchored to the road...
I took out the rear headrests for more rear visibility and I keep the 3rd row seat erected all the time...This little seat is a good baffle to keep grocery bags steady and the rear of the jump seat is used to hang up wet jogging attire on the way home after my daily runs..
The black cloth seats are high quality and I don't slide around while doing brisk driving ..However, I keep a lint roller handy for a once a week clean up of dust, dandruff, and lint...When they are clean, the black cloth is beautiful...
I built a little armrest for my left elbow out of styrofoam and a mouse pad top covered in black pantyhose and anchored to the side door panel with carpet tape...It adds 4" to the existing door armrest that is too low for my liking..
I love the power and the handling of this ride and have no regrets....6 speed tranny is perfectly geared and the V6 engine is very quiet when idle but it does have a pleasant growl that I love when accelerating....I occasionally have the front end click spoken of here but I will wait to see if there is a tech bulletin coming...The noise does seem to be diminishing though.
This XLS rides as good as my friend's Lexus 330 that he paid 40 G's for a few years ago...And the base sound system in the XLS is higher quality. I didn't want the Fosgate..
The 4WD is hands down THE BEST of all the Crossovers that I tested..The Selector switch is exatly what I need for City usage, mountain trailhead access, and Forest road usage..Can't wait to get this baby up to Colorado...
There is actually a TSB for this clunk problem which i saw in another outlander forum. The bulletin was released a few days ago and the number is TSB-07-26-001.
So, the question is whether aqua marine color is a good choice or not? I saw in the pics from worldcarfans and liked it. Not sure how it will look in the real world as there is no aqua around here in dealer lots which are not many to begin with. Anyone like the aqua?
Here's what I have in my mind
Now just go to mitsu website and try to build an 07 outlander. You will get the color decision on the third page. Click on aqua and you'll see that it is completely different.
These are pics of vehicle on sale and it might be taken off when it is sold.">
That applies only stateside.. north of the border, there is no beige.. atleast not yet. darkblue has black interior in big white frozen north :P
I saw not that good numbers from Santa Fe and CX7 owners on those forums.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8111848552337264232&hl=en
Do you know if the ASC can be disengaged and under which circumstances? I know there is a ASC button on the left side of the steering wheel, but is that a switch or just some sort of indicator? Is there any drawback in using 4WD Lock all the time other than taking a hit on gas mileage?
It would be great to be able to turn it off and keep it off until you reactivate it. It would offer the option to have more control over the car if you want to.
JDM Web Site
Yes you can disable ASC. The ASC button will serve as an on/off button. It is activated by default when you turn on the vehicle, and can be turned off thereafter by pressing the ASC OFF button for 3 sec. When deactivated, an ASC OFF indicator will appear in the dash display.
But the real kicker is when going uphill on icy/snowy back roads, you dont feel as if there is any wheel slipping. It was great and reassuring. :shades:
However, I would like to warn others not to get too cocky since 4wd only gets you going deceptively fast in bad conditions but does not let you stop any better. My brake pedal shook violently as the ABS with EBD worked its magic. :sick:
Not sure how ASC comes into play but I will not switch it off for any reason. Leave it on.. it might just save your butt.
The "blind spot mirror" looks bad , however it must be the law to have this feature in Asia. It is problably very efficient.
Also, the ASC is explained in depth in the Manual...The manual recommends that it be in the OFF position when getting out of deep snow..
This is exactly the reason I'm asking. This is a big plus on the new Outlander versus RAV4's VSC which cannot be switched off. Now I only need to determine if it automatically re-activates or not. My guess is that is does not, but just checking.
Actually, MPG gains have been from 1 to 2 MPG gain using a 20 weight over a 30 weight. The 20 reduces overall wear because it flows better at startup, where most wear occurs, and the running wear rates between a 20 and a 30 are very similar. Ford, Chrysler, Honda, and Mitsu all specify 0w-20 or 5w-20, and it works great.
Will that cost MPG? 99.99% of the time, isn't front wheel drive just fine? Does Mitsu say MPG will be best in front wheel drive mode?
http://outlander.jp/drivers_feeling/dri_03.html#start