drinkh20

If you look back to my posts, I wrote a lengthy review when I first took delivery and figured I would follow-up with my 10,000 mile review.

I have put 10,000 miles on the car since May 28, 2004 which includes a 70 mile round trip daily commute that, with a recent job location change, will now be a 50 mile daily sojourn. My MPG figure is currently 24.9 MPG. This is both the OBC figure and very close to my rough calculations. (About 58 miles of my daily commute is open highway driving at 70 to 80 MPH and 12 miles is at anywhere between 10-30 MPH.)

I have had no major issues with the car from a maintenance perspective. At 5,000 miles I had the Flat Tire Monitor (FTM) alert me that I had a flat. A visual inspection of the tire showed no issues and my tire gauge showed a couple of lb's less pressure then the other three tires. I added some air and continued to drive for two more days at normal speeds. The FTM came on again and I took the car in for a quick check up. They found a four-inch nail in the middle of the tire. The run-flats did their job and the FTM worked like a charm. I've had no software or programming issues/bugs to speak of and the I-Drive works fine.

I have one very small ding in the left-front quarter panel from a small pebble kicked up by an M3 while we were working our way north to New Hampshire in very light traffic at about 130MPH (for brief periods). Lesson learned...any hard object, regardless of size, will cause damage at that speed.

Things I like:

Sport seats are amazingly comfortable and the thigh support is something I miss when driving my wife's Landcruiser. (I didn't mean to get anyone excited using wife and thigh in the same sentence.)

The engine is an absolute beast and I love it's performance.

The handling is amazing. The active steering is remarkable and has actual caused me problems when I drive the other car since a Landcruiser is about 4-5 total steering wheel turns. Also, I'm very apprehensive handing over the car to valet parking attendents due to the active steering. I just took off my summer tires and put on four Bridgestone Blizzaks. The dealership said I'd notice more noise around 70MPH and that performance would be compromised at speeds in excess of 100MPH. Typical, I immediatley went north of 100MPH and felt no discernible difference in handling and a bit more noise. There's an nicely banked exit ramp coming off the highway that I can normally take at 65MPH with the summer set-up but could only feel comfortable at 45MPH with the snows. I'm interested to see how they actually perform in the snow.

The sound system is the best I've ever had in a car or my house for that matter. AM/FM reception is great.

Hard-wired Passport to the left of the rearview mirror. Installed by the dealership at no charge. It has saved me a few times.

Things I don't like:

Climate controls are somewhat confusing. I need to reread the owners manual to make sure I'm doing things properly.

In a perfect world, I'd prefer a larger fuel tank since with the miles I drive and an 18 gallon tank, I feel like I'm filling up constantly.

The car is jumpy at low speeds when not warmed up...nit-picking, I know.

The seat heaters will absolutely smoke you out at the highest level...I need to adjust them...more manual reading.

So far, this has been the nicest and most service free car I've ever owned. I have probably cursed myself now that I have to bring it in for this latest (first for me) recall on December 21. In the end, this is an amazing car and worth every penny.

drinkh20

Sorry, meant to write Comfort Seats not Sport Seats...

JDN

Always good to hear from a happy camper.

SveaRike

Nice update writeup...& comforting to hear since I'm supposed to pick mine up tomorrow

evperry

Would you midn sending me a pic of your hardwired passport. Also, how did you show the dealership how to install it, did you give them instructions or did they just know how to do it? Also do you have the zr3 laser shifter installed?

do you leave it in the car when getting out or do you pull it and put it away.

thanks.

p.s. ive been really thinking about hardwiring this thing.

Jimbo

What brand are your summer tires? Was the run-flat repaired or replaced? If replaced, how much was it?

uwsc11

I appologize for my ingnorance, but what is a hardwired passport?
And what is a zr3 laser shifter?

Thanks for educating me.

zippers525

I think they recalled some of the seat heaters.

evperry

escort passport 8500 is a radar detector. when you hardwire you dnt see the cord from the cigarette lighter.

zr3 is the laser shifter that goes the system.

I appologize for my ingnorance, but what is a hardwired passport?
And what is a zr3 laser shifter?

Thanks for educating me.
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evperry

also with thehardwire, where does the smart cord go? how do you mute?