pow

I think it'll be okay in gray. Electric blue is a bit too much.

Styling was 7/8 (interior/exterior) for the Escalade, and 5/5 for the QX56. Escalade f-and-f was 8, while the QX56's was a 7. The Escalade's noise, ride, and steering had something to do with the 22-inchers, according to C&D. Re: "cool features", actually they were commenting on the rearview TV. My bad. The features/amenities category is based on an objective feature count, which I assume includes stuff like side assist, radar cruise control, infared glass, power steering wheel, and so on.

The results were probably so because C&D's report card doesn't put much emphasis on styling or fit and finish, two areas where the Escalade handily beats the QX. And it's Car and Driver (or Sports Car Illustrated..), so they usually pick the one that drives most like a car. Edit: Here's basically the CliffsNotes of the comparo... Navigator -- weak performance, poor brakes, not enough grip, noisy, good outward visibility, roomy Escalade -- good acceleration, noisy, nervous steering, cramped 2nd/3rd row, cool features, structure quivers, expensive QX56 -- roomy, dowdy looks, most car-like of truck-based utes, low-price, quiet, smooth Q7 -- concept-like styling, nice interior, cramped 3rd row, most sporting, too low, too loud, good handling GL450 -- car-like, luxury, quickest, most efficient, squishy brakes, roomy, good ride

... and the Passat up!

I'm willing to say that most Honda mainstream cars have arguably more passion than GM's. Sure, they're not exactly exciting or exotic, but they have a sporty, enthusiast's touch to the engineering, which influences everything from ergonomics to driver controls. C&D nailed it with their review of the Odyssey: "... it has a sort of participatory vigor on the road that all car guys respond to, a direct communication link to the driver's instincts." Honda makes very fun and pure cars even without a lot of power.

ROFL!!! See? Told ya... fountain.

My aunt has the designo launch version with the 19" wheels, black/tan/matte wood, panoramic roof, and graphite paint, and it's hot. It's good with the fat-spoke AMG wheels, too. The standard ones are a bit boring, but they still look important and presidential. It looked great in The Devil Wears Prada.

The Fusion has a sense of engineering purity and organic wholesome goodness to it. It's almost enthusiast oriented in a light, agile, import sort-of-way. Plus it has double wishbones up front and an available manual transmission. The Aura is more of a dull, solid, isolated car decked out with Opel refinement touches. It's more sophisticated than the Fusion, but it doesn't really float my boat. Lemme put it this way... the Fusion is more like an Audi, while the Aura is more like a Mercedes.

They found this gutless but not the CR-V? Anyway, I found the Unlimited very cool and a bargain almost (poor man's G-class or LR Defender) until Edmunds mentioned the FJ and Xterra. And then there's the H3. Damnit. Giving the Wrangler 4-doors sounds logical, but it also brings up a lot of competition.

But, but the trunk, engine compartment, and overhangs are!

True.

That's an aftermarket Honda accessory. Here's the basic OEM one...

Has anyone tried Trader Joe's organic lemonade? Is it any good?

C&D reviewed the GXP in their October issue, and overall, they were overwhelmingly positive. Of the article's fifty sentences, just five contained criticism, and even so, it was very faint, on the usual Solstice quirks (trunk space, steering, top operation). They pointed out how GM's first direct-injection engine manages a whopping 60 more horses than VW's 2.0T FSI, and also how the GXP offers better fuel economy AND less interior noise than the regular Solstice. In fact, they felt so highly of it that they even compared it to a far more expensive Porsche's Boxster, and they ended the article saying, "It's an exceptional deal." 0-60: 5.6 5-60: 6.7 70-0: 170 ft skidpad: 0.85g mpg: 22/31

The MDX is growing on me... and I think it's the first Acura that doesn't look frail, flimsy, or boring. I love the styling inside and out..

With $4000 rebates, one could easily get a new STS V6 for $34K. Or a slightly used one for $25K. But then, to be fair, one could easily get a new RL for $42K, $8K under sticker.

"Lexus says the '07 LS is as quiet as ever -- and we agree -- although the cabin is less isolated. That's a good thing, because more of the ultrasmooth V-8's subdued roar can be heard inside." - C&D, October 2006 Oh noes!~!~!~x11tymillion

The trouble is, by five or so years, very mainstream cars will have most of that technology. What unique timeless attributes will the LS offer then? Very little. It's like big screen TVs and computers. I remember when Pentium II 266Mhz, 64 MB ram, 10 GB space, and 15" monitors were considered impressive. The original iBook, on the other hand, still looks cool.

The backseat is absolutely FOWL... Neoclassical pillars, metal gates, home theaters, and replica fountains are no match for this car. Hell, AFAIK, Lexus still offers gold-plated badges as an accessory. You could stick diamonds on it, and it would still be a badge designed by a focus group.

This isn't luxury... it's merely technology. You could give it 33 speakers, 687 horses, 21 gears, and 17 airbags, and I'd still pick the Benz or Bimmer.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php Electric Mini: 0-60 in 4 Seconds: It Has Motors In Its Wheels A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW's Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors — one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved. Explains Martin Boughtwood, PML’s MD: “Until now, most electric vehicles have been little more than souped-up milk floats, limited by range and speed, with compromised performance. For those with a green conscience who also value an enhanced motoring experience, there is still something missing. “Working in partnership with our customer, Synergy Innovations, we set out to demonstrate what our electric wheel technology is capable of. We simply took a standard BMW Mini One, discarded the engine, the disc brakes, the wheels, and the gearbox. These components were replaced by four of our electric wheels, a lithium polymer battery, a large ultra capacitor, a very small ICE with generator (so small it almost fits alongside the spare wheel), an energy management system and a sexy in-car display module.” The benefits of PML in-wheel drive technology are; * It is adaptable to other vehicle chassis * It eliminates the need for gearing and mechanical drive train * It allows more space inside the car The vehicle has three driver-selectable modes of operation: * Eco mode for town/city frequent start-stop driving; * Normal mode for daily commuting and ICE- equivalent operation, and * Sport mode for super car performance. Other notable features include: * No (mechanical) brakes means returned energy! All braking is performed by the wheel motors acting as very efficient electrical generators which return almost all of the energy back to the battery system. The beauty of this dual-circuit, ultra safe system is that your green conscience can be quite content even when accelerating hard, since you are assured of collecting most of the expended energy when it is time to slow down rapidly. ABS as standard – even when accelerating Because the wheels are high performance motors, ABS comes as a standard function built into each wheel’s software. Now anti-skid can also be applied to acceleration since the motor can smoothly control torque delivery to/from the road in both cases. Flooring the brake or accelerator hard merely results in controlled maximum torque, giving the shortest possible stopping or acceleration time. Clever wheels The technology eliminates the need for crude differential gears to share power between left and right sides. The wheels are in constant communication with each other deciding 1000 times each second how much torque share is optimum for the current driving conditions. Should one wheel detect a slippery surface and take appropriate anti-skid actions, the other wheels are aware of this instantly and adopt an appropriate compensating strategy to keep the vehicle as stable as possible. 640 brake horsepower – for life! Each wheel develops 160bhp - 640bhp in total. The original Mini One develops less than 100bhp with an engine that weighs nearly double the weight of the four electric wheels! Apart from wheel bearings there are no wearing parts in the electric wheels; this means the horsepower stays for the life of the vehicle - and beyond. As the battery level reduces, the rear mounted ICE/generator starts to automatically top up the battery. So when you arrive at your destination you can simply park the vehicle knowing that when you return the battery will be replenished. Alternatively you can take advantage of lower cost mains electricity and plug in to recharge. So you never need to worry about battery capacity or how to recharge. During operation, as the battery level falls the generator cuts in, enabling an average speed of 60 – 70mph to be sustained with no further battery depletion.

Since you're not in California, why not a diesel? You could run it on waste veggie oil or biodiesel. The Merc ML320 CDI arrives October and starts around $43K. It's less posh sibling, the Jeep Grand Cherokee CDI, should be less, but offers the same engine.

Try http://www.odyclub.com

FWIW about sound meters... C&D 10/06 on the new Aura... "Driving the Aura on the highway is like putting on a set of Bose noise-canceling headphones. Although our sound-level meter measured a very average 68 dBA of noise, it seemed to our ears to be the quietest car since a Rolls-Royce Phantom." ... on the new Navigator... "... we found the dubs to be exceptionally noisy on interstates, where they sang loudly over road textures... the air-rush sound over the Gator's greenhouse seemed louder than the others, too, even though our sound-level meter didn't back up this perception." Human ear > dB meter

Yeah, I was sitting in a Passat value-edition wagon for a half-hour this morning, waiting for Pacific VW to do an emissions recall (or "TSB", if you want) for our '02 1.8T. Even with black leatherette and a basic stereo, I really, really liked the wagon. Everything was well-made, the interior was very comfortable, and the features (power tailgate, ESP) were impressive for a base-model car. Car and Driver got 7.2 seconds 0-60 for a Passat 2.0T automatic wagon.