DC Car Examiner

Thanks! I'll double-check these answers when I'm back in the car tomorrow (and post photos), but my recollection is that the outside temperature gauge is located on the center stack with the clock and other stereo displays and that the rear seat doesn't fold perfectly flat. I'll see what I can find about the steering system. I had remembered the steering to be very light in a previous short drive of the Elantra Touring (an automatic car, instead of this manual), but it seemed firmer the few turns I was able to take in the Washington area's rain today. I'll push it more tomorrow and see if I can find any information on whether the Touring uses a different system from the sedan.

They overproduced initially, for sure. That doesn't mean once they burn through their excess inventory they'd want to give up this quickly. A loaded minivan is a profitable product, and while Routan sales have been low, there have been months where it was still one of the best-selling VWs in the US.

Its death is pure speculation, and it's almost inconceivable that they would pull the plug on it after less than a year on the market. They did put a fair investment into redeveloping the Grand Caravan, so even if it continues to sell slowly I don't see it going away that quickly.

Picked up this manufacturer press vehicle today, and I have it through next Monday. I'll be putting up a full review at that point, but is there any specific aspect of the car anyone would be curious about that I should specifically look for? More photos at link: http://www.examiner.com/x-1017-DC-Car-Exam...a-Touring-Day-1

Hyundai doesn't sell a 4-cylinder AWD Tucson. (GM, too, doesn't sell such a vehicle; the Vue 4-cylinder is FWD only and the Equinox doesn't get a 4-cylinder until this summer.) All eight vehicles from the comparison were listed in the first article, in the slideshow.

Second Place: 2009 Subaru Forester X Continued at link: http://www.examiner.com/x-1017-DC-Car-Exam...Vs-second-place

Not really. It shares the Vectra's styling, but it's mechanically much closer to the Pontiac G6 than the European product.

Third Place: 2009 Honda CR-V LX Continued at link: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1017-DC...UVs-third-place

Fourth Place: 2009 Ford Escape XLS Continued at link: http://www.examiner.com/x-1017-DC-Car-Exam...Vs-fourth-place

Fifth Place: 2009 Nissan Rogue S Continued at link: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1017-DC...UVs-fifth-place

Sixth Place: 2009 Mitsubishi Outlander SE Continued at link: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1017-DC...UVs-sixth-place

I'm sure it was a question the Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealers asked back when gas was expensive: why can't we have a subcompact? Now gas prices are back down and they're stuck with it. The Aveo's fuel efficiency has also improved drastically since its launch, and it does now get better mileage than the Cobalt/G5.

Seventh Place: 2009 Suzuki Grand Vitara Premium Continued at link: http://www.examiner.com/x-1017-DC-Car-Exam...s-seventh-place

Eighth Place: 2009 Jeep Patriot Sport Continued at link: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1017-DC...Vs-eighth-place

Why? The Sentra isn't as good of a car as a Versa in many ways, and costs more. The two are the same size inside and the Sentra's bigger engine doesn't make it any quicker, so they're both Nissan compact sedans. The Versa is the winner of a comparison within Nissan, so to speak, so it earns the right to move on against competitors from other brands. The Sentra does not. Rigid adherence to perceived market classes isn't always helpful to answer the question of "what is the best product that fits these criteria?" And for what it's worth, Nissan's "competitive comparison" portion of its website lists the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra as competitors against both the Versa sedan and the Sentra.

The Versa's dimensions aren't far off from the others, and it doesn't give up anything over the slightly bigger cars in either space or refinement. If you can do all the same things with a smaller footprint, all power to you.

I'm not at all involved with the technical side of the site, sorry. If there's a way I could find out for you I'd be happy to help, but I can't say I even know what CMS or frontend are.

$20,000 for four cylinders and four-wheel-drive (or all-wheel-drive); what will it get you? Read the introduction to this comparison at the link below and check back throughout the week. A review will go up each day, starting from last place and working towards first. http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1017-DC...Vs-Introduction You can also check out two completed comparisons (small sedans and midsize sedans) if you don't want to wait a week to see the winner of something: http://www.examiner.com/x-1017-DC-Car-Exam...ns-Introduction http://www.examiner.com/x-1017-DC-Car-Exam...ns-Introduction

The new SRX is completely different. It's now FWD-based and doesn't even pretend to squeeze in a third row.

Fleets aren't buying either. Increasing fleet sales is no longer something that's done when you're desperate; those are hard-won sales, too. Fleet-heavy cars saw their sales evaporate in months this year -- the Chevy Cobalt and Chrysler Sebring have both had months were they were down 70% and the Pontiac G6 was down by over 80% at one point. The Sonata staying steady at a high volume is significant no matter how they got their sales.

March, May, same thing.

You skipped a couple big ones: the Hyundai Sonata and Mazda6. Sonata: 12,406 in March 09, 11,306 in May 08. Mazda6: 4,463 in March 09, 7,741 in May 08.

It certainly isn't worse than all luxury cars, it's just not the class leader in ride quality. It's still better than the MKS in both areas.

They were harsher to the Lincoln. 15% is not insignificant, no, but it's not an outlandish difference between two luxury cars. Once you're spending $40,000 and up, you're generally looking for something world-beating, even if that means an extra $6k for a great car over a decent one.

That's the sport-suspension M35, which is indeed stiffer than it should be. Also, the price difference between the M35 and MKS is not $10,000 comparably equipped. More like $6k, according to TrueDelta.com.