March 5, 2013
With so many new test cars in and out of our garage during the past month, our 1987 Buick Grand National was a little underutilized.
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March 5, 2013
My longtime friend and fellow car enthusiast Albert pulls up next to me in his Honda S2000 and examines our long-term 2013 Scion FR-S.
"Red is my least favorite color but I would still trade my car for that any day of the week," he says. "Damn, that thing is clean."
Our friend Ian arrives in his Hyundai Genesis 2.0T R-Spec coupe and we take off for a Sunday morning drive. I was on a spirited jaunt with friends, but I couldn't help to think, "Which one of these would I want to own?"
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March 5, 2013
A recall has been issued for the Porsche 991. Seems the company discovered that the tailpipes of cars with the standard exhaust (but not the sport exhaust) can detach. This was observed in test cars in Porsche's fleet. So far, no reports of incidents in the field.
The recall applies to cars manufactured from March 7, 2012 through November 12, 2012.
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March 5, 2013
Ed might not have a problem with the brake pedal action in our long-term 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster, but I do.
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March 5, 2013
One of the worst things about our 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is the behavior of the trucks' five-speed transmission on downshifts. Something about lawyers and unintended acceleration meant that that generation of Chrysler products were not able to add fuel unless the driver hit the gas pedal. This prevents nice, smooth rev-matched downshifts from the autobox. Instead, you get a hard drop into the lower gear. Think the first time you drove a stick. It's not great.
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March 5, 2013
Nearly 80 miles into its current full tank, our 2013 Lexus GS 350 is averaging 21.7 mpg.
Make sure to check back this Monday, March 4 as we begin to post February's monthly fuel updates for all of our long-term cars.
Kelly Toepke, News Editor @ 13,556 miles
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March 5, 2013
I like the hug-me-tight Recaro seat in our Ford Focus ST. What I don't like is the fact that its adjustments are manual. Because I'm 5-feet, 3-inches tall, I have to pull the seat fairly far forward in order to get a comfortable clutch and steering position. Then comes the pumping up of the seat for the right height, the manual back angle adjustment, etc.
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March 5, 2013
Our long-term Tesla Model S has a pretty aggressive regenerative braking system. When you hop off the accelerator pedal, the deceleration is as strong as easing into the brakes. It takes a little getting used to, but with smooth inputs, you won't be getting your passengers carsick. But the sharp deceleration had me a bit nervous about getting rear-ended.
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March 5, 2013
We've put a 1,000 miles on our 2013 Cadillac ATS since its last fuel economy report.
You'd think that might change our overall averages, but in fact, they didn't budge a bit.
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March 4, 2013
Our Dodge Dart drove nearly 1,200 miles throughout the month of February, our second full month with the car. We averaged 26.5 mpg for those 28 days of mixed driving, which is slightly better than our overall average of 26.2 mpg.
Like Chris Walton mentioned last month, we're still well below the EPA's estimate of 31 mpg for combined city and highway driving. This month we filled up the tank exclusively with 87-octane fuel.
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March 4, 2013
We put just over 2,000 miles on our long-term 2012 Subaru Impreza during the month of February, including Phil Reed's road trip to Palm Springs.
Now as the calendar flips to March, our Subie has averaged 25.9 mpg during the life of our long-term test. Best tank stands at 31 mpg, while the worst tank is a low 21.2 mpg.
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March 4, 2013
During the month of February we drove our turbocharged 2013 Ford Focus ST about 1,250 extremely thrilling miles. We've been finding that the Focus ST's combination of power and handling make even the most mundane drives a little something special. During the month the hatchback averaged 23.1 miles per gallon on 91 octane premium.
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March 4, 2013
We've only just had our 2014 Mazda CX-5 for a couple of weeks, so it's way too soon to start drawing any conclusions just yet.
Ours has the new 2.5-liter engine, which in AWD form is rated at 24 mpg city/30 mpg highway/26 mpg combined. In case you're keeping score, that's 2 mpg better in the city and 1 mpg better combined than our 2012 Honda CR-V 4WD machine.
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March 4, 2013
We spun our feisty Beetle Turbo's odometer nearly 1,200 additional miles during February, a month which also saw a couple of milestones. One was expected, as we hit the 15,000-mile mark. The other was a pleasant surprise.
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March 4, 2013
During February, we finally put some real road under the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster's tires, 3,760 miles worth. Most of that came from EIC Oldham's snowy rip to South Dakota (roughly 3,200 miles), and in the past four weeks, the big Benz averaged 16.2 mpg, up almost 3 mpg from its January average. No doubt, a steady diet of Great Plains highways helped nudge that number upwards.
With its mix of road trip and local domestic duties, the SLS returned both its best and worst fills this month, as well as its best range. The roadster's on-board fuel economy meter also proved remarkably accurate. Four times, it was either dead-on or within a few tenths of our calculations.
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March 4, 2013
During the month of February we drove our 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 1,031 miles. During those four weeks the SUV averaged 13.5 miles per gallon of premium 91 octane fuel. That's slightly below the running average of 14.0 mpg it has produced over 21,000 miles, a number which aligns perfectly with the EPA's 14.0 mpg combined rating.
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March 4, 2013
During the month of February we drove our 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet about 940 miles. During those almost-four weeks the sedan averaged 15.4 miles per gallon of 91 octane premium.
That's quite a bit lower than the 16.7 mpg that we've averaged over the car's 2,214 miles and the Porsche's 21.5 mpg combined EPA rating. The reason? Hard driving. The Porsche saw particularly spirited use this month and was also track-tested, where the throttle is used with impunity, eroding its fuel economy.
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March 4, 2013
During February we drove our 2013 Lexus GS 350 over 4,000 miles. I'd say we met our 1,700-mile goal for the month. The total was particularly high thanks to a road trip Dan Edmunds made from LA to Austin, Texas.
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