With all the dialogue recently of other cars & problems, I thought I would write about a fun trip to the Bay area (Northern Calif) this past weekend. The last few trips we've taken was in my wife's MDX due to weather or # of passengers (more than 4 I won't take the RL), so I was looking forward to this trip. I took the coastal route up, which means not only more scenic, but more winding roads. The car didn't disappoint and really does handle super well.

The audio system was great, I was alternaing the xm with cd's, cda, and cd/mp3's. My mp3's were noticeably less quality than the others and I'm going to rerecord them at a higher quality level.

On the last leg of the return trip I went about 314 miles nonstop after filling the last fillup. What was surprising was the trip computer showed an average speed of 84 mph and gas mileage of 23.7! There was a few times where the passing was more "spirited" and hit triple digits, so the gas mileage was amazing. I even double checked today's fillup to make sure the fuel guage was reasonably correct and it was.

At one point in Santa Cruz, some guy pulled up slowly while I'm at the red light, and inched slowly up while checking out my car from back to front and top to bottom. I didn't know if he was checking the bugs that are plastered all over the car or what..then he looks up and gives a big "thumbs up." Didn't know what to think up it considering he was driving a Hyundai, but it was pretty cool anyway.

There was some noise near the rear seats but I'm confident the dealer will find and resolve that problem as they have treated me real well to date.

I thought I made a great choice when I got this car and I still feel that way. It's not the fastest, not the most luxurious, and so on...it's just one great package and value for the money..even if it is selling for less than msrp now.