| Charlie's Dad |
I just returned from 4 hrs at the Central Florida Auto Show held at the Orange County Convention Center. All Manufacturer's were represented except Audi who for some reason stayed away (come on Audi, Maserati was there!). Anyway here is my take for what it is worth.
I am still glad I purchased the Murano. For the Price there was no other car I perferred without a drive.
- Boy the Ford edge was a let down. I found the Interior to be CHEAP with a capital C. My test is to close the drivers door and then press it with my left leg. Sure enough the door facing almost buckled. The exterior styling was OK but the rear seat dissapointed.
The Lincoln Clone was better in material usage but really dissapointed with strange retro interior styling and another androgynous Lincoln grill.
- Mazda 7 suv was very nice from the driver's seat but again the rear seat could not compare to the Murano. Nice cockpit though with thoughtful details and good materials. Ford really should have involved the Mada designers in their effort.
- The Acura SUV's MDX and RDX were impressive for materials and finish but the rear seat in the RDX was tight and the MDX has becore quite pricy.
- New GM Suv's felt pretty tight but cheap hard plastics all around spoiled the fun.
- New Hyundai Suv's too had a lot of cheap materials and some missing details like lights on the vanity mirrors.
- I really liked the VW Toureg but its price loaded was right on top of an Infinity FX35 and there was no comparison for dealer service.
Big suprise was how nice the interior of the Caddilac SRX has become. This bodes well for the CTX as I understand it will share this fine interior. Hopefully Caddy will improve the quality so that reliability will improve on the SRX.
Well That's it. Another Auto show and lots of fun.
Regards |
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| gadgetfreak |
| Wow. Interesting to hear that. So the CX-7 comes closest to the MO for the driver. Did you see the CX-9 as well. I would consider that for the 3rd row. I really don't care so much about passengers as my kids would be using the back the most. |
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| Charlie's Dad |
The CX 7 was impressive but...as I feared no rear seat leg room to speak of. I fear the CX 9 will be the same. Unfortunately I did not find the CX 9. Eigther it was not there or it was tucked away and I did not see it. It's a pretty big Auto Show.
I will note that the Mo interior is very restrained and almost avant garde in its composition (that's why I like it, it is almost like a Citroen interior). The CX 7 interior was rather complex but in a well integrated sort of way. The materials were rich and it passed my left leg door facing press test.
I suppose I will start seeing CX 9's soon. The CX 7 was out when I purchased my 06 Mo, but for me service and convenience of ownership is everything and I am lucky compared to others on this forum, I live just a few miles from what I consider to be an excellent Nissan dealership that has taken care of me in the past. The Mazda dealership did not have bad service but it was much further away (I traded in a Mazda). |
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| Charlie's Dad |
It is interesting to me that the CX7, the Ford Edge, and the Lincoln are all basically the same car and all targeting the Murano, RDX, Rav 4 segment of the 5 passenger car/based SUV segment (I understand this is the fastest growing segment). Interesting because in Ford's warped maketing plan they really botched the Edge which from an interior material point of view is a bottom feeder down there with the GM unit bodies. The Lincoln (which should have been an Infinity competitor) is about where the Edge should have been (except for the hoky retro instruments). I have read that the Edge was meant to directly compete with the Murano which makes sense.
My point is Ford has something to prove and the fact that it got smoked by its vassel Mazda shows that there are about 10k too many executives in Dearborn. It will take a major upgrade of that interior to make me think twice about my Murano decision. |
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