So after a month and a half driving this new SUV I figured I should post my thoughts on it.


Background - Looked at close to 20 New SUVs of all sizes, drove about 15


We had a few requirements to meet which ruled out several really nice vehicles.


Form our list, we drove the Hyundai 3rd really on the thoughts of ruling it out all together, but we walked away from the test drive scratching our heads. We had nothing bad to say about it and could not figure out how they give you so much for the money compared to others. After driving many more and liking several others, we went Head to Head with the Acura RDX. The 2 SUVs shouldn't even be in the same game, but the Hyundai held it's own in all but maybe top comfort of seating and ride, but at another $12K.


So we decided to use our money wisely and take the additional money and use it towards next years Roth IRA deposit, while still getting every feature we wanted. We picked the colors we wanted and chose the Ultimate Trim package. We went with the Lava Orange with Gray interior.


It would have been nice if they still had a choice for a 6 cylinder, but in reality, the 4 is enough with the 8 speed transmission.


Things I like-
My favorite piece of new tech is the Heads Up Display that includes current speed, speed limit, next step of navigation, lane assist, blind spot and forward collision sensing.



Size is bigger this year and all but matched my old Rav4 except for the height of the back opening. (None of the SUVs tested including the larger ones had better than a 31 inch high opening, the old Rav was 37 inches). They included good size cargo space below the rear flooring too.


The seats are pretty comfortable with full power on passenger side which was a main requirement for us. The two tone leather with an offsetting color stitching looks pretty rich. The seats heat up really fast and have 3 temp settings. (The Rav was on or off) There is also heat in the passemger seats but only 2 settings.


The Heated Steering Wheel is also another great feature which I never had on any vehicle. I hate driving with gloves and this makes it bearable in any temp.


The Navigation is decent besides not knowing the actual speed limit on several local roads that have not changed in years so hopeful the next update will fix that. The voice Recognition is good as long as you say the right keywords. The rest of the usability is good.


The Infinity Audio System is also decent once I found the special Surround Settings. You can also plug in a USB stick full of music and eliminate the need for a smartphone/bluetooth streaming. I have over 4000 tracks and growing so when the 3 months of Sirius is over, I will go back to my own music. Out of all the stations they have, I find myself only using 4 or 5 and because most suck, I have been listening to the comedians more.


All the safety features are nice and you get decent control as to how they are used, Off, Warning only, or Warn and Assist. The forward collision sensing scares the crap out of you the first few times but may be useful some day. I turn on the Lane Assist at night but without correction.


The panoramic roof is also nice but I also worry about all that glass if anything unexpected takes place.


The Auto Sensing Wipers is great, I just have left the switch in Auto and it wipes when it needs to.


Gas millage is reasonable and trip counters are good. I am averaging between 25 and 27mph and have yet to take a real road trip.


Rear View mirrors tilt down to see the ground when in reverse.


All the camera angles, both front and back and top are really helpful.



Things I don't like-


Idle Stop & Go is the dumbest thing they have tried to snow us all with since the cabin air filter. They claim it saves gas but in all studies done on gas engines, it takes more gas to start the engine than to leave it idle. The real deal is Emissions. If millions of cars are shut off at each red light, then there is that much less emissions being spewed, but they try to sell the feature as gas savings which is pure crapola. I will eventually purchase a 3rd party memory module but for now the routine is, Start the car, Put Seat Belt on, push the ISG Off Button.


The 2 key fobs you get with the vehicle are not differentiated for Driver 1 and Driver 2. each time you switch drivers you have to manually push the Set 1 or Set 2 button for seats and mirrors. My Buick knows the difference between the 2 fobs and just sets itself according to who is driving. The main problem this creates is that you can NEVER lock the doors if 1 of the keys is still inside. This can suck at times because there are many times my wife will leave her pocketbook in the car and now we have to take her key out and carry both if shew wants to leave it behind. This is an example of lack of refinement in place of too many features.


Seat Belt alarms are friggin ridiculous. If anyone takes off the seat belt before the car is in park, the warning chime will not stop until you turn the car off, even after putting it in Park. Also the passenger seat will not sense a 160lb person sitting in the seat if they use a thin cushion on the seat. It is not really sensing weight as the manuals say but rather an indentation in the seat itself far enough to trip a sensor. Any cushion distributes that indent thru the cushion and fails to register an adult sitting in the passenger seat.


Overall I am happy with the choice, but wish I had more disposable cash and would have bought the Acura MDX if that was not an issue.


I am sure there is more I could say both Pro and Con but figured this is enough for a short review.


So after a month and a half driving this new SUV I figured I should post my thoughts on it.

Background - Looked at close to 20 New SUVs of all sizes, drove about 15

We had a few requirements to meet which ruled out several really nice vehicles.

Form our list, we drove the Hyundai 3rd really on the thoughts of ruling it out all together, but we walked away from the test drive scratching our heads. We had nothing bad to say about it and could not figure out how they give you so much for the money compared to others. After driving many more and liking several others, we went Head to Head with the Acura RDX. The 2 SUVs shouldn't even be in the same game, but the Hyundai held it's own in all but maybe top comfort of seating and ride, but at another $12K.

So we decided to use our money wisely and take the additional money and use it towards next years Roth IRA deposit, while still getting every feature we wanted. We picked the colors we wanted and chose the Ultimate Trim package. We went with the Lava Orange with Gray interior.

It would have been nice if they still had a choice for a 6 cylinder, but in reality, the 4 is enough with the 8 speed transmission.

Things I like-
My favorite piece of new tech is the Heads Up Display that includes current speed, speed limit, next step of navigation, lane assist, blind spot and forward collision sensing.

Size is bigger this year and all but matched my old Rav4 except for the height of the back opening. (None of the SUVs tested including the larger ones had better than a 31 inch high opening, the old Rav was 37 inches). They included good size cargo space below the rear flooring too.

The seats are pretty comfortable with full power on passenger side which was a main requirement for us. The two tone leather with an offsetting color stitching looks pretty rich. The seats heat up really fast and have 3 temp settings. (The Rav was on or off) There is also heat in the passenger seats but only 2 settings.

The Heated Steering Wheel is also another great feature which I never had on any vehicle. I hate driving with gloves and this makes it bearable in any temp.

The Navigation is decent besides not knowing the actual speed limit on several local roads that have not changed in years so hopeful the next update will fix that. The voice Recognition is good as long as you say the right keywords. The rest of the usability is good.

The Infinity Audio System is also decent once I found the special Surround Settings. You can also plug in a USB stick full of music and eliminate the need for a smartphone/bluetooth streaming. I have over 4000 tracks and growing so when the 3 months of Sirius is over, I will go back to my own music. Out of all the stations they have, I find myself only using 4 or 5 and because most suck, I have been listening to the comedians more.

All the safety features are nice and you get decent control as to how they are used, Off, Warning only, or Warn and Assist. The forward collision sensing scares the crap out of you the first few times but may be useful some day. I turn on the Lane Assist at night but without correction.

The panoramic roof is also nice but I also worry about all that glass if anything unexpected takes place.

The Auto Sensing Wipers is great, I just have left the switch in Auto and it wipes when it needs to.

Gas millage is reasonable and trip counters are good. I am averaging between 25 and 27mph and have yet to take a real road trip.

Rear View mirrors tilt down to see the ground when in reverse.

All the camera angles, both front and back and top are really helpful.

Things I don't like-

Idle Stop & Go is the dumbest thing they have tried to snow us all with since the cabin air filter. They claim it saves gas but in all studies done on gas engines, it takes more gas to start the engine than to leave it idle. The real deal is Emissions. If millions of cars are shut off at each red light, then there is that much less emissions being spewed, but they try to sell the feature as gas savings which is pure crapola. I will eventually purchase a 3rd party memory module but for now the routine is, Start the car, Put Seat Belt on, push the ISG Off Button.

The 2 key fobs you get with the vehicle are not differentiated for Driver 1 and Driver 2. each time you switch drivers you have to manually push the Set 1 or Set 2 button for seats and mirrors. My Buick knows the difference between the 2 fobs and just sets itself according to who is driving. The main problem this creates is that you can NEVER lock the doors if 1 of the keys is still inside. This can suck at times because there are many times my wife will leave her pocketbook in the car and now we have to take her key out and carry both if shew wants to leave it behind. This is an example of lack of refinement in place of too many features.

Seat Belt alarms are friggin ridiculous. If anyone takes off the seat belt before the car is in park, the warning chime will not stop until you turn the car off, even after putting it in Park. Also the passenger seat will not sense a 160lb person sitting in the seat if they use a thin cushion on the seat. It is not really sensing weight as the manuals say but rather an indentation in the seat itself far enough to trip a sensor. Any cushion distributes that indent thru the cushion and fails to register an adult sitting in the passenger seat.

Overall I am happy with the choice, but wish I had more disposable cash and would have bought the Acura MDX if that was not an issue.

I am sure there is more I could say both Pro and Con but figured this is enough for a short review.