Driving Impressions and thoughts: San Diego-Las Vegas-San Diego
10-24-2006, 12:20 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Driving Impressions and thoughts: San Diego-Las Vegas-San Diego
I finally got to take the RL on a long drive, from San Diego to Las Vegas (and back, of course), and I thought I'd share driving impressions.
The car is solid and quiet -- quieter than my '95 Legend at all speeds, and smoother riding. Exceptions were a rustling wind noise at 80mph (easily ignored), and a high-pitched whine heard at speed - mentioned in other threads (not as easily ignored).
Over the course of the entire trip, I averaged a little over 25 mpg (according to the Trip Computer) at an average overall speed of about 68 mph round trip (including a massive traffic jam). During one stretch, from Barstow to San Diego I averaged 27 mpg. It was nice to know that the trip could have been made on one tank of gas, assuming minimal stop-and-go traffic.
Power was plenty sufficient - you could cruise comfortably and confidently at 80mph or better and the car felt like it was just getting started. Gentle throttle input resulted in smooth and timely acceleration. Harder acceleration was a little bit jumpy - a definite delay between pressing the pedal and response. And response was sometimes a little harsh. The engine sound under hard acceleration comes as a surprise since the car is otherwise so quiet around town. Its not a bad sound -- in fact it sounds sporty -- it is just unexpected.
The navigation system and traffic alerts were accurate and helpful. I got caught in a nasty tie-up and used the traffic incident reports to see how many miles of tie-up I was in for. Pretty cool. The color-coded traffic updates were helpful in anticipating traffic flow on the drive home through various Southern California rush hours. I noticed that the "heading-up" option goes away if you are zoomed out.
The driver's seat was super-comfortable. Even after many hours of sitting (3 straight at one stretch), I never felt stiff, cramped, or uncomfortable. The RL simply has one of the best driver's seats I've encountered. The way the seat is positioned towards the center of the car also meant I had plenty of side-to-side room.
The inner door panel is interesting. I love the flat arm rest and grab handle. At times, I think I'd have preferred a more concave rounded area at the base of the window to rest my elbow. But when not thinking about it, my elbow tended to rest in the concave well quite nicely, allowing me to keep my hand on the wheel. It is different than most cars, though. Overall, it was nice to be able to pass someone, see and open spot, and get to it before it disappeared. If only people would keep to the right......
I'm 5'11", and don't see too much of the hood when I'm driving. If I put the seat high enough to see the hood, then my head brushes the upper grab handle if I turn it. If the seat is very low, the hood becomes almost invisible. My RL is silver, and it tends to reflect the color of the road, which further minimizes hood visibility. It presents a nice panoramic view of the road, but does make parking a bit of a challenge until I get more comfortable with the car's corners.
The taupe interior stayed cool and comfortable. I tended to use the A/C in manual mode (setting fan speed and temp), and found I had to set the temp to 70 rather than the usual 73-74 I use in my wife's car for normal comfort. Still, the car was always comfortable.
Since the route was all freeway, I didn't really get to enjoy the super-handling. I did get to test the horn when a Vanpool tried to change lanes into me. When sitting in the traffic jam, we used the calculator to try to figure out how many cars were probably stuck in traffic. I used radio's local preset feature to find a station to listen to the Chargers get beaten by Kansas City.
Rob144
The car is solid and quiet -- quieter than my '95 Legend at all speeds, and smoother riding. Exceptions were a rustling wind noise at 80mph (easily ignored), and a high-pitched whine heard at speed - mentioned in other threads (not as easily ignored).
Over the course of the entire trip, I averaged a little over 25 mpg (according to the Trip Computer) at an average overall speed of about 68 mph round trip (including a massive traffic jam). During one stretch, from Barstow to San Diego I averaged 27 mpg. It was nice to know that the trip could have been made on one tank of gas, assuming minimal stop-and-go traffic.
Power was plenty sufficient - you could cruise comfortably and confidently at 80mph or better and the car felt like it was just getting started. Gentle throttle input resulted in smooth and timely acceleration. Harder acceleration was a little bit jumpy - a definite delay between pressing the pedal and response. And response was sometimes a little harsh. The engine sound under hard acceleration comes as a surprise since the car is otherwise so quiet around town. Its not a bad sound -- in fact it sounds sporty -- it is just unexpected.
The navigation system and traffic alerts were accurate and helpful. I got caught in a nasty tie-up and used the traffic incident reports to see how many miles of tie-up I was in for. Pretty cool. The color-coded traffic updates were helpful in anticipating traffic flow on the drive home through various Southern California rush hours. I noticed that the "heading-up" option goes away if you are zoomed out.
The driver's seat was super-comfortable. Even after many hours of sitting (3 straight at one stretch), I never felt stiff, cramped, or uncomfortable. The RL simply has one of the best driver's seats I've encountered. The way the seat is positioned towards the center of the car also meant I had plenty of side-to-side room.
The inner door panel is interesting. I love the flat arm rest and grab handle. At times, I think I'd have preferred a more concave rounded area at the base of the window to rest my elbow. But when not thinking about it, my elbow tended to rest in the concave well quite nicely, allowing me to keep my hand on the wheel. It is different than most cars, though. Overall, it was nice to be able to pass someone, see and open spot, and get to it before it disappeared. If only people would keep to the right......
I'm 5'11", and don't see too much of the hood when I'm driving. If I put the seat high enough to see the hood, then my head brushes the upper grab handle if I turn it. If the seat is very low, the hood becomes almost invisible. My RL is silver, and it tends to reflect the color of the road, which further minimizes hood visibility. It presents a nice panoramic view of the road, but does make parking a bit of a challenge until I get more comfortable with the car's corners.
The taupe interior stayed cool and comfortable. I tended to use the A/C in manual mode (setting fan speed and temp), and found I had to set the temp to 70 rather than the usual 73-74 I use in my wife's car for normal comfort. Still, the car was always comfortable.
Since the route was all freeway, I didn't really get to enjoy the super-handling. I did get to test the horn when a Vanpool tried to change lanes into me. When sitting in the traffic jam, we used the calculator to try to figure out how many cars were probably stuck in traffic. I used radio's local preset feature to find a station to listen to the Chargers get beaten by Kansas City.
Rob144
10-24-2006, 12:32 PM
#2
Three Wheelin'
What's the "local preset feature?"
10-24-2006, 01:21 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
In the radio menu there's something called A.SEL, which will create a full set of temporary AM and FM presets for you to use in a new local area, while saving the presets you created.
So, as we approached Vegas, I used the A.SEL (which I think means Auto Select) to grab some local stations and scanned them to find the Charger game.
Rob144
So, as we approached Vegas, I used the A.SEL (which I think means Auto Select) to grab some local stations and scanned them to find the Charger game.
Rob144
10-24-2006, 03:43 PM
#4
Senior Moderator
Nice writeup. I hope to be able to complete one long trip before it snows heavily around here....preferably a trip south on I-77 into the West Virginia mountains. That was a fun trip with the TL and would be even more fun with SH-AWD. Wheeee!
10-24-2006, 04:26 PM
#5
Drifting
Originally Posted by neuronbob
Nice writeup. I hope to be able to complete one long trip before it snows heavily around here....preferably a trip south on I-77 into the West Virginia mountains. That was a fun trip with the TL and would be even more fun with SH-AWD. Wheeee!
With snow on the horizon, are you planning on going with snow tires?
Rob144,
That is a nice write-up! I have had the opportunity to take several relatively long drives and thoroughly enjoy the ride, handling and performance of the RL.
10-24-2006, 04:45 PM
#6
AcurAdmirer
Nice report. Rob. I learned something new ... I pressed A_Select the other day just out of curiosity and thought I'd lost all my presets. Now I know I can get them back. (Now that I've reset all of them. 
)
My big trip is coming up in a month - Texas to California and back, for about 4,000 miles total - and I'll certainly have a good handle on the RL's roadworthiness by the time we get back. And you guys have me paranoid about the high-speed whining noise now, so I'll be listening.
.
.
)My big trip is coming up in a month - Texas to California and back, for about 4,000 miles total - and I'll certainly have a good handle on the RL's roadworthiness by the time we get back. And you guys have me paranoid about the high-speed whining noise now, so I'll be listening.
.
.
10-24-2006, 06:32 PM
#7
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by Treblig
Hey neuronbob,
With snow on the horizon, are you planning on going with snow tires?
With snow on the horizon, are you planning on going with snow tires?
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