Driven Today!!!

[MrH]

Woah. That's quite the line up

[MexicoCityM3]

It was a dealer event at the Puebla track. I was able to do 2-3 semi laps on each car. Semi because the instructors drove a pace car that slowed things down quite a bit. But I still was able to get a reasonable impression plus it was back to back which is always great for comparisons.

I'll do a full write-up soon. I loved all the cars and didn't care for the SUVs.

[12,000 RPM]

Fuck dude.

[MX793]

I got a chance to take a short spin in "my" 2016 Mustang GT this afternoon after being notified that repairs of the damage sustained in shipping were done and it was ready for me to inspect. 

I previously had only been in premium models, so this was my first time in a base model of the current generation.  I had spent a fair bit of time studying photos before deciding that I'd find the base interior acceptable.  When I bought my 2011, I found the base/non-premium interior then to be unacceptably plasticky.  They've come a long way in 5 years.  As I had expected from the photos, the base interior is, overall, at least as nice as my 2011 Premium.  By opting for the base trim, I do give up some features and that my 2011 has.  But for every feature I lose by getting a base trim, Ford has introduced new standard equipment that makes up for it.  Also, most of the features I'm losing are things I never used or cared much about and a good portion of what I'm gaining are things I wish my '11 had.  To break it down for those unfamiliar:

Features lost:
-MyColor gauges.  My 2011 has black numbers on backlit, illuminated faces with accent halos.  I can change the color of the gauge faces as well as separately change the color of the halos (or turn the halos off).  I have mine set to white gauge faces with blue halos.  However, Ford changed from illuminated faces to black, unlit faces with illuminated numerals and also got rid of the accent halos.  I believe this change actually happened midway through the previous generation (part of the 2013 update, I think).  The result is that the MyColor feature lost some of its "wow" factor.  Also, Ford ditched their classic (and IMO ugly) green on black gauges for a more classic white on black that I rather like.  So I won't be missing this feature much going forward.

-Ambient interior lighting.  My 2011 has illuminated door sill plates, cup holders, and foot wells.  Like the gauges, the color of the lighting can also be changed.  Kind of neat, but a bit gimmicky.  Unfortunately, you can't change the color of the illuminated switch gear, which is a light blue.  I ended up setting my interior lighting to blue to match the switch gear and never touched it again.  Not something I really even notice much and I doubt I'll miss.  There is a dealer installed interior lighting package that gives you foot well and cup holder lighting with adjustable color (7 colors, IIRC) if I find I miss it.

-Shaker Stereo.  '16 base trim gets a base, 6-speaker stereo rather than the 8 speaker premium Shaker system in my '11 (or 9-speaker in the new cars).  The Shaker has a pretty nice sound and can get very loud.  I've never really cranked it because I don't like blasting music.  I usually have it on volume level 4 (out of like 20), maybe turning it up to 5 or 6 if I have the windows down so I can hear it over the wind noise.  I'm not much of an audiophile in general, just like to have some tunes at moderate volume in the background when I'm cruising.  Listened to the radio some on my test drive at the volume I normally listen at and I was OK with the sound quality.  It's a car, not a concert hall.  Oh, and V8 soundtrack.

-Satellite radio.  Not sure why, but the base trim Mustang does not have satellite radio.  Likely a cost-cutting measure.  I'm pretty sure the head unit supports it since my brother has what appears to be the exact same head unit in his 2014 F-150 and he has satellite radio.  I would probably just need an antenna.  That said, I've never been sold on satellite radio.  I don't drive enough to make paying for a subscription worth my while.  Not something I'll personally miss.

-Miscellaneous premium trim accent pieces.  This largely amounts to metal pedals, aluminum kick plates, and some chrome bezels around the door speakers.  I'm not a big chrome fan, so I actually kind of prefer not having the speaker bezels.  And the metal pedals weren't something that was readily visible.  They also could be slippery if the soles of your shoes were wet.  The kick plates are likewise something that's seldom visible.

-Leather upholstery.  While I appreciate leather (easy to clean and care for, doesn't fade in the sun), I'm also OK with cloth provided it's attractive (no cheesy or funky patterns) and feels sturdy.  The cloth upholstery in the Mustang fits the bill.

Features gained:
-HID Headlamps.  Wished my 2011 had these.  They were an extra cost option then and, IIRC, required some other options or packages be selected

-Adjustable steering effort.  This was part of the performance pack on 2011s, IIRC, and eventually made standard on the previous generation.  Wished I'd had it on mine because the steering effort was a bit light for my taste.

-Sport mode for the ESC.  This was also added sometime after 2011.  My 2011 is either on or off.  This car has something in between which could be useful.

-Power passenger seat.  Not something I care much about, honestly, but should be mentioned.

-Back up camera.  Rearward visibility on these cars is actually pretty decent, but more visibility isn't a bad thing.

-Much more comprehensive and informative driver information center.  Instantaneous fuel economy readout now shows numerical values instead of just a series of bars.  Also will display more information about the car's operating conditions, such as cylinder head temperature, A/F ratio, alternator voltage, intake air temperature, and some other stuff I'm forgetting.  And the screen is much nicer than the old-school display in the 2011.

-Track Apps.  A series of applications accessible from the driver information center that includes an accelerometer readout to measure lateral and longitudinal Gs (and records max values), launch control, and acceleration timers (0-30, 0-60, 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, braking distance).  Also the much hyped line lock that I'll never use.

All told, I feel like I come out no worse than even in terms of feature content with this car.

As to the drive, not much to add beyond my impressions from the car I drove earlier this year.  The first thing I noted was the driver's seat.  The cloth seats felt better bolstered and a bit more snug than I recalled the leather buckets in the 2015 Premium I drove being and more snug than my '11.  Not sure if that's really the case or if the added frictional grip of the cloth makes them seem like they are holding me more tightly.  I was pleasantly surprised by just how much liked them.  I was expecting something like the seats in my Mazda3 or the last gen WRX I drove, which were OK but not great.  These were quite a bit better.  They remind me of the seats in my 240SX, but with much more adjustment. 

I didn't get on it too hard since the roads were a little damp from passing sprinkles and it was only about 40F and the summer tires don't grip well at these temperatures.  Also, the car only had like 50 miles on it.  I did roll into it a bit and took it up to ~3500 RPM and the engine note in the cabin was louder than I remembered from the car I test drove when I did press down on the go pedal.  That's a good thing, since one of my criticisms of the previous car I drove was that I thought the exhaust was too quiet. 

The brakes were more immediate than I recalled from the car I test drove.  Very firm pedal with little pedal travel or pressure required before you're getting thrown against the seatbelt by our lady of sweet deceleration.  Made heel and toe downshifting kind of tricky.  I'll adjust with some more time with the car, and they may lose some of their aggressive initial bite when they're broken in.

After months of driving the Jetta, it was nice to drive something that's responsive.  Jiggle the wheel in the Mustang back and forth an inch or so to each side and you get noticeable lateral Gs as the car actually changes direction.  I tried the same in the Jetta on the way home and all I got was some subtle rocking/wagging of the body and no real directional change that could be felt.  Not sure if it's because the steering rack is slower or just the softer suspension soaking up the lateral Gs with body roll.

[MX793]

I have a late-model Edge Titanium 2.0T AWD as a rental for the week.  Initial impressions just driving it from the airport to my hotel and then out to dinner are pretty positive.  Motor is surprisingly peppy.  Good low to mid range grunt without noticeable turbo lag.  Steering is quicker than I'd expect for this class.  Definitely a quicker rack than my Jetta.  Might almost be as quick as my Mustang's steering rack.  The whole driving experience kind of reminds me of a Fusion, but with a more commanding view of the road.  Brakes seem really grabby/immediate.  Not hard to adapt to, but I'm used to mainstreamers having a little more free travel, and overall travel, in the brake pedal. 

Interior seems pretty nice.  Typical late-model Ford in form, function, and feel.  Rearward visibility out of the smallish rear window isn't great.  Fine in traffic, but you'll definitely appreciate the backup camera in parking lots.

Not sure how I feel about the twin screens in the instrument cluster.  There's no physical tach, but one of the display options for the left screen, which serves as the driver info center, is a digitally rendered tachometer.  Manually triggering a shift with the steering wheel paddles will switch the display to the tach from whatever you had it set to.  This means you can't have both the tach and fuel economy readouts simultaneously.

[ifcar]

I quite liked the Edge I drove also, and agree that it's rather sporty for what it is.

[Morris Minor]

Rental GMC Terrain in Hawaii - pretty dire. However I did manage to wind it up to just under 100mph when overtaking a couple of slowpokes.

The only bright spot was the power lift gate - button-operated  including from the key fob. Surprisingly useful.

[68_427]

2011 IS300:  Same 2.5L V6 as the 250.  Slow, and not confidence inspiring.  Full options though so butt coolers and great stereo.  No pics because who cares.

2013 530i: N52 and 8spd is a nice combination.  A fairly base car as it's just used as a spare car, and it breaks all the time.  (3 times in the week I was driving it)


2015 Range Rover V8 Supercharged:  Feels bigger than it is, gets about 8mpg, massage seats, and bangin' stereo.  Feels as expensive as it is.

exact twin to this



2013 Land Cruiser:  4.7L V8 was more than enough in the sand.  These things take a serious beating without a hitch.  No wonder they're everywhere in thr ROW

[Laconian]

What are you doing in Dubai?

[MrH]

Slaying some suga mama

[12,000 RPM]

I cant imagine too many sugar mamas in Dubai. I have heard the sheiks fly IG models out and do horrible things to them for surprisingly smalls sums of cash.

[68_427]

I cant imagine too many sugar mamas in Dubai. I have heard the sheiks fly IG models out and do horrible things to them for surprisingly smalls sums of cash.

Yeah they get dumped of yachts and stuff.  I'm back in the US now

[Laconian]

I cant imagine too many sugar mamas in Dubai. I have heard the sheiks fly IG models out and do horrible things to them for surprisingly smalls sums of cash.

IG?

[BimmerM3]

IG?

Instagram brah.

[Laconian]

Is that why Cale went to Dubai? He is easy on the eyes...

[Xer0]

Had a 2015 V6 Camaro for a 5 day rental while I was in LA the past week.  On the outside, car is positively HUGE and really awkward to see out of.  The whole first day was spent getting comfortable with where everything ended up, especially that super long hood.  Now stop me if you've read this about the Camaro before, but it's tiny on the inside.  With the seat all the way to the bottom, my head still scrapped the roof and I'm not that tall at just 5'10.  Autocrossing this car would be impossible as there is no room to wear a helmet at all.  Maybe none sunroof equipped cars are better, I hope that's the case.  Entering and exiting was also kind of awkward and uncomfortable and overall a lot of the car was designed around the styling.  Thankfully, I thought it was a pretty good looking car and I enjoyed walking up to it.  Although I really gotta call out the chrome wheels that Chevy puts on this car as they are super tacky.

The driving experience was similarly a mixed bag.  Everything about this car is just big and heavy.  The door feels like it weighs 500 lbs by itself,  the steering is very heavily weighted, and the pedal is pretty heavy; getting back into my SI after really made me appreciate light controls.  I normally wouldn't have any problems, I'd say everything needed about as much effort as my buddies EVO, but there was zero feedback.  It was heavy for the sake of being heavy to make it feel 'sporty' and it was annoying.  I was getting more comfortable with the car as the weekend went on, but still didn't feel comfortable really going at it.

Being a rental, this car had the automatic.  Maybe it would have felt livelier with the manual, but the Camaro never once struck me as particularly fast.  The transmission was usually pretty slow to downshift and quick to upshift.  Yeah, it had paddle shifters, but I don't care for them in general especially  since you don't have full control half the time anyway.

Overall, the car was okay.  It looked good and was reasonably capable, but it never made you want to exploit its skills.  I'm glad I rented it, and at $49 more than the Camry for the whole trip, I don't regret it, but I would feel really bad if I owned this car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[12,000 RPM]

The door feels like it weighs 500 lbs by itself,  the steering is very heavily weighted, and the pedal is pretty heavy; getting back into my SI after really made me appreciate light controls.

See guys, I'm not crazy. This "heft as feedback" cheap trick manufacturers are pulling doesn't fly.

[Laconian]

The convertible is even worse than the hardtop. Insane how bad the viz is.

[68_427]

Is that why Cale went to Dubai? He is easy on the eyes...

no yachting for me

[Morris Minor]

2016 Mercedes-Benz C300. Loaner from the dealer while wife's car is being given some love.

241HP turbo four pulls like a locomotive but IMO a ruffian 4-banger is a turd in the luxury sector swimming pool. Car looks great, has great stance, & the finish is flawless. It has all the safety goodies & luxury gizmos. But, naturally, being a Merc, you'll need several hours of digging through impenetrable menu layers to figure out how to work the controls.

Of course I was fucking distracted officer, I was trying to switch off the radio. I'm sure that'll buff out.

[Raza]

I cant imagine too many sugar mamas in Dubai. I have heard the sheiks fly IG models out and do horrible things to them for surprisingly smalls sums of cash.

How horrible?

And how little cash?

[MexicoCityM3]

Loved it. Again. This time on the road.

[ifcar]

I drove my mother-in-law's 2004ish Renault Modus for a few minutes; I didn't get a ton of experience but it's an agreeable enough little car, basic-feeling but roomy and comfortable.

[Laconian]

I rented a Modus for like a month, thought it was pretty nice and did well with just a 1.4L gas engine. Great outward visibility.

[2o6]

What a modest modus.

[ifcar]

I've started a Facebook page where I post running updates on the cars I'm testing, along with reviews as they're completed. If anyone's interested: https://www.facebook.com/BradyHoltAutos

Right now in my driveway I have a Kia Sedona and a Buick Cascada -- you know you want those puppies in your news feed!

[Xer0]

I drove a 2013 BRZ for about an hour yesterday.  Here are my thoughts:

The car still looks great.  I've always loved the way it looks and that hasn't dulled one bit since launch, IMO.  The car also rides and handles great, obviously, but the real take away is how much better it rode than the civic.  Going back into the Civic after the BRZ, the car just felt needlessly stiff and uncomfortable while still not being near as capable.  Everywhere else it was licked too, but the ride is what stood out the most.  Actually, the Civic's engine was better, IMO, and transmission was about equal id say.

Overall, great car, loved it.  Worlds better ride, handling, and steering than the SI with only the engine being the one letdown and even that wasn't actually bad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CALL_911]

Yeah man I got to drive an FRS a while back and was a huge fan of everything except the engine

[MexicoCityM3]

The BRZ only became available here a couple of months ago. I am curious to drive one but if I ever want something in that class I'd probably go with the Miata.

The Toyota has never been on sale here.

[Laconian]

Road tripped the mother in law's Renault Captur from Reims to Bretagne and back - about 8 hours of driving total. It's a small MPV based on the Renault Clio. It has a very tractable engine, lots of punch around town and can hold its own on the autoroute (130kph) - doesn't slow down up hills. Guess wot?? The engine is only a 0.9L 3cyl. Turbo of course, but damn, it's amazing how reasonable that piddly little engine is for a car of such decent size and legroom. The manual transmission and 2400lb curb weight help, no doubt.