gm test drive

we got something in the mail a couple weeks ago to test drive some gm vehicles. since we're in the market for a new car, we thought we'd check it out. we're looking primarily at the mini cooper convertible, saab convertible and the toyota prius hybrid. so we thought that this was a terrific opportunity to do some futher car research.

susan forgot to bring her license, so that left all the driving to hue. these are the vehicles we drove around:

bmw x3, x5: x3 was amazingly stiff and uncomfortable, the interior felt cheap. the x5 was much better but a behemoth of a machine. a bit too big for our taste.

cadillac srx, escalade esv, cts-v: much more luxurious, susan especially loved the look of the srx. it's that cayenne/murano/tourag half-wagon/suv style. nice. the escalade was ok but again too big, we saw the ext but it was too ugly to bother driving. we got to take the cts on a racetrack which was more fun than the regular city driving track.

chevy ssr, covette: the ssr if a head-turner for sure, mainly b/c it's a bit unpleasantly funky. susan liked its creative design but hue was so turned off that it was one of the last cars we tested. the corvette could only be driven with a professional, and as it's a 2-person car, susan was left to watch on the sideline. the corvette reminds her of midwest teenage boys whe spend every afternoon washing their car- thus, she is unimpressed with the vehicle and didnt mind sitting out. hue picked the manual version to test out his rusty skills and took some tips from his passenger. they both survived the tightpin turns without much stalling.

lexus es330, rx330: rx is really great, comparable to the srx. we were interested in the 330H but they didnt have that one available. susan felt the sedan was ok, but hue loved the wood steering wheel and smooth drive.

mercedes ml 350: this was susan's favorite of all the mid-size boxy suv's prior to the test, but the drive was almost as bad as the x3. stiff suspension and the turning radius of an 18 wheeler.

saab 9-3 aero convertible: top of our list at this event. the mini was not available to compare but we'd already checked it out in portland. the saab has more space and has a classier look.

toyota 4runner: it was ok. nothing special.

this was a GM event, and its true that the hummer adventure track (2 man-made dirt mounds) was popular. but the longest lines were for non-gm cars. maybe not the best marketing on their behalf, but they did feed us well and gave us some decent shwag.