I'm back from the last of three press previews in a row, the last being the all-new 2013 Nissan Altima. What an utterly satisfying car!
At the risk of sounding like I'm complaining about my job -- I swear, I'm not -- I'll tell you that press junkets can be a lot of work. Okay, granted we travel to lovely places, stay in fancy hotels and eat tasty meals, all on someone else's dime. But we also have a very short amount of time to take in a ton of technical information about the car, and we have to assemble our impressions from limited seat time on roads not of our choosing, usually sharing the car with another journalist who is interesting company if one is lucky, and a frightening driver if one is not. And in my case, I also have to find a location to try to get some halfway-decent photos. It's a far cry from the usual week-long test drive -- there is a lot of information to process and a short time to distill it down to the key facts so as not to wind up with a review as long as a novella.
If your publication concentrates on technical facts, I imagine it's a bit more straightforward, but if you're trying to put together a full, concise, well-rounded opinion on the car, as I try to do here at About.com, it can be a tough thing to do in the space of a few hours. (Don't get me wrong, it still beats the daylights out of working for a living.)
So that's why the Nissan Altima was such a satisfying drive experience. My first impression is that Nissan got this one right. They improved the product, didn't do anything radically new or different, and didn't ruin the car by trying to "decontent" a few hundred bucks out of the cost. They simply built a better Altima. It's roomy, it's fuel efficient, it's good to drive, it's well-appointed, and it's positioned well against the competition in terms of price, size, model lineup and feature availability. I don't think I had one single "What the hell were they thinking when they did this?" moment -- and that's a rarity. They simply built on the Altima's momentum and produced a great product.
Now it's time to hit they keyboard. I'll have full reviews of the 2013 Nissan Altima, along with the 2013 Cadillac XTS and 2013 Lexus ES, starting this coming week. Stay tuned! -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Aaron Gold
I've got a string of press previews this week, one of which is the Cadillac XTS, the new top-of-the-range big Caddy that takes the place of both the STS and the DTS -- the latter being the classic old-person's Cadillac.
On paper, the XTS has an interesting story to tell: The styling is (I think) terrific, the mechanicals are humble (3.6 liter V6, front- or all-wheel-drive), and the interior is high-tech -- it's home to Caddy's new touch-screen CUE interface.
Now, I'm a big fan of the CTS, especially the 556 hp CTS-V (who isn't?), and I'm excited by the prospects of the ATS, the new small rear-drive Caddy that will go on sale a little after the XTS. But I don't really know what to think of the XTS -- and I'm not sure how to evaluate it. Should I compare it to the big German sedans? Or should I look at it as a king-sized Lexus ES?
I'm trying to get my head around this car, and I want to hear what you have to say. What do you expect from the XTS? And more importantly, what would it have to bring to the table for you to consider buying one? Click the "comments" link to share your thoughts, and I'll have a full review in the next couple-few days. -- Aaron Gold
Photo © General Motors
Meet our new long-term test car: The 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI. Over the next 12 months, my wife and I are aiming to put as many miles on the diesel-powered Passat as possible (and attempting to beat the 29,000 we put on our long-term Honda Insight) to see what long-term Volkswagen ownership is really like. Why did we choose a Passat TDI? I'll tell you all about it in the introduction to our twelve-month Passat TDI test drive.
Related: 2012 Volkswagen Passat review
Photo © Aaron Gold
Today I'm in Portland, Oregon, to drive the all-new 2013 Lexus ES. My review is still a few days away -- embargoes, dontcha know -- but I will tell you that more than a few of us hacks were discussing the new 2012 Hyundai Azera. One of the Toyota staffers from Japan seemed surprised that we would consider the Azera a serious threat to the Lexus ES, and considered it more of a competitor to the Toyota Avalon. And that brings up an interesting question: The Azera certainly rivals the ES for its luxurious design, but would buyers who are thinking about a Lexus even consider a Hyundai? So I figured I'd ask you.
Let's set aside issues like quality, value-for-money, resale prices, etc., and just stick with the issues of design and brand name.
Related:
Photo © Aaron Gold
