Published by admin October 30th, 2007
in 3 Stars and Lincoln.
This week I had the 2007 Lincoln MKZ, otherwise known as the Ford Fusion. This car is nice. “Nice.” I think that’s the best way to put it. There’s nothing wrong with nice. Nice is good. I like nice. But does nice get me excited? Do people inquire about nice? Does nice make you do something you probably shouldn’t, but just can’t help yourself? No. Nice is just… nice.
The MKZ has a sturdy build, while not looking overweight. It’s got very minimal lines, which are pleasant and unoffending. The outside looks slightly agile with a hint of excitement, but never goes overboard and keeps one foot in the safe zone.
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Published by Jason October 15th, 2007
in 3 Stars and Ford.
Take a Ford Freestyle, change the name to a former best-selling car, add an “X”, and well, throw in every feature that Ford offers and what do you have? The 2008 Ford Taurus X. An under-whelming, expensive, and generally uninspiring SUV. OK, that’s a little harsh, but it’s moves like this that demonstrates why American automobiles continue to fall at the hands of Japanese and even Korean automakers.
The Taurus was a great-selling car. Obviously people found it’s value-for-the-money to be about right, but for years, I saw people driving them thinking, “What kind of person walks into a Ford dealership and drives away in a Taurus? And are they content after their purchase?” I think this almost every time I see a Taurus. Who buys these? And now, with the Taurus X, filled to the brim with options, and a sticker at just over $38,000, I’m even more unsure.
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Published by Jason August 17th, 2007
in 3.5 Stars and Chrysler.
This is the Chrysler Pacifica. Or, the MiniVan of Dreams. It’s a four-door van with several forward-thinking features. It’s got a power-lift gate. Normal windows for the rear passengers to roll down. A center console between the backseats. About a hundred different seat configurations (some up, some down, some hidden or taken out), and a multi-media mavens dream.
Featuring the UConnect, it allows you to speak commands to the car without taking your hands or eyes off the wheel/road. It sounds fantastic, but I never got it to work (although, I barely gave it the college try, and didn’t read the manual… But I stick by my guns that I shouldn’t have had to.). Did I mention forward-thinking features? Well, it also has the most backwards thinking feature I’ve seen in a long time. Instead of putting the navigation and rear-camera display in the center dash like everyone else in the world, they put it inside the instrument cluster. This makes it almost impossible to look at while backing up (when you’d actually need to use a rear-mounted camera), and extra impossible to use when you’re turning the car while backing up, as your arms and hands and steering wheel all server as obstacles to look past. If you’re going to go through the trouble of putting in these features (camera and nav), please put them somewhere where I can see them, and my passengers can view them. It’s great to have my co-pilot watching the navigation and telling me what to expect, but when it’s out of their view, and ultimately, out of mine, it’s worthless.
By the way, that photo above? DEFINITELY a ’simulation.’ The video doesn’t look anywhere near that clean.
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Published by Jason June 19th, 2007
in 3.5 Stars and Ford.
First impression is that this is one interesting color for a car. A very strong orange color that got everyone to wrinkle their nose and ask, “What’s with the color on that car?” It can’t be ignored. This color was weird, and I regardless of my personal thoughts on the aesthetic, I don’t think it made a good color for a car. I certainly would be a little embarrassed to have paid $40,000 for such a color, and constantly be explaining myself and my choices. Big elephant in the room, and I had to address it.
The vehicle itself was the IronMan package, created in honor of the unbelievably intense IronMan Triathlon which they sponsor. It came with special floor mats, special bodyside cladding, special big bumpers, wheels, etc. With all of the ‘extras’, this car went from $28,800 to $39,325. That’s 33% of the original price just in add-ons. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a car go from affordable to over-priced that fast. In itself, it was a nice ride. Pretty smooth, decent power, good handling, and above average visibility for a mid-sized truck. However, there were also some small, nagging issues. The turn signal indicator (the audible click-click-click) was so loud that I turned it off at long stop lights. It was painfully louder than it needed to be. And I found the seats to be somewhat uncomfortable, very stiff and unforgiving during long drives.
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Published by Jason May 7th, 2007
in 3 Stars and Nissan.
When I was told what my car would be this week, my response was “a Nissan What?” I’ll be honest. I hadn’t heard of the Versa, and when asked by my friends what I was driving, they responded the same. It’s a quiet, unassuming car that asks for very little attention. It’s easily overlooked in parking lots, and pretty much forgettable in appearance.
However, I wish I could say the same about it’s driving. I think I’ll remember this car for long after, as a benchmark to judge miserable, long-term driving by. Many have touted it’s low-price and perceived offering of extras; tilt-steering, A/C, CD stereo, and… um. I guess that’s it (I had the base model at $14,105). And around town, this car was great. I can easily see the target market, young, first time buyers, skipping around town on their short commutes loving this car. It’s new, it’s theirs, and it isn’t enslaving them to poverty.
–Nasty Alert! In the following section, I let out a little steam over this car, and address one of the biggest gripes I’ve ever had with a test drive. Please forgive me for being a bit harsh.–
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