swingtan
12-07-2010, 10:50 AM
Ok, it's a long title, but it is accurate....
Over the past 10 weeks I've had the "privilege" of drive quite a few hire cars thanks to the May hail storms in Melb. While it's been rather frustrating not having my own car, it has allowed me to drive a number of vehicles for an extended time and get an idea of what it's be like to own one. It's been much better than a short squirt in a demo, so I thought I'd share.
The cars in order of testing are...
Toyota Aurion 2009: Base "hire car" model with 6 spd Auto and 3.5L V6.
Hyundai Elantra 2009: Base "hire car" model with 4spd Auto and a petrol "starter motor".....
Ford 2010 FG XR6: Base XR6 with 6spd Auto and 4.0L in line 6.
Holden 2009 VE Sportwagon Omega: Base "corp lease" car with 4spd Auto and 3.6L V6. This is actually the wifes car
So given that list, here's my views on each car.
Aurion:
To be perfectly honest, I was looking forward to this. As much as I like my Holdens, I've always had a believed that Toyota made a very good car and easily rivaled the build quality of Holden. Being Japanese, I was looking forward to some well thought out designs and user comforts.
I was sadly disappointed. This car was a shock to me and had me thinking that I must have really been expecting too much. It wasn't all bad, but for me there was more bad than good. If you didn't care too much and just wanted something to get from A to B, then it did an OK job. The only thing is that there are plenty of cars in that league and I was expecting a little more from Toyota.
First, the good points.
The engine has gobs of power. If it could get grip it's be a very fast car.
The auto is pretty good too. Not fantastic, but pretty good.
It's got good fuel economy for the power it's delivering.
that's about it for good things, now for things that really put me off.
A stupid foot "emergency / park" brake that you would knock and release every time you got out of the car.
A dash layout and control that is stuck in 1980. Nothing is combined, it's all over the place. Resetting the trip "counter" is a "press the button" job like the old mechanical dials. the "over speed" control is part of the center dash clock. It's got a feeling that they just threw in a bunch of bits left over and hoped it would work.
BRIGHT, BRIGHT, BRIGHT white LED's in the center console that can not be dimmed! What a right royal pain that was when driving at night. All you got was glare off the console when trying to look out the windscreen.
No grip on the front wheels. Hire car tyres probably didn't help but it was woeful. You couldn't use half of the engine power in the dry, let alone if it was wet.
Huge turning circle. I haven't looked up the specs on each car for this, but perception was that this thing should have been articulated! The first time I tried turning around in my drive I almost cleaned up the bins and another car. Maybe it's got a proportional rack and is slower to turn at the beginning? What ever it is, I felt like I was driving a bus.
Auto up/down windows. I actually wanted these in my car, until I tried them out. Now I know why Holden has stayed clear of them. Try and just crack the window and you end up just going down - up - down - up - down - up. It'd probably be OK after a month of practice.
So, in summary.... My views of Toyota have changed, I no longer hold them any where near a high as I used to.
Hyundai Elantra:
OK, don't laugh. To be honest I thought the guy from the hire company said it was a "Lancer" and I thought it'd be good to try a Mitsu as a direct comparison to the Toyota ( which I was glad to hand back ). I wasn't expecting much, which may have helped my final thoughts on the car. Build quality was OK as was the general layout inside the car. It wasn't the most prestigious car but I was pleasantly surprised.
Good points...
Not too bad to drive. A little lacking in power but I didn't expect a lot.
Dash layout and control was very good. I could dim the center console as well!
Gearbox shifted fairly well
Used very little fuel
Bad Points...
The engine sounded like a chaff cutter over 4000 RPM. This wouldn't have been as bad if you didn't need to keep revving it to get anywhere.
I'm used to a bit of power, this didn't have any. I might have been able to use it to start the 6L in the VZ, but even then it would probably struggle.
No respect..... I hadn't noticed this before but no one cares about a Hyundai. In the VZ I could indicate and people let me in, in the Hyundai, I had gaps closed on me and people pushing in.
In summary, not a bad little car and probably OK value for money. Not my cup of tea though.
Ford FG XR6 2010:
This really got me excited. This was a great chance to sample a direct competitor to the VE range, and it certainly has not disappointed. It's an "upper level" car though, so I wasn't sure what to expect but I was thinking along the lines of the Toyota ( pre testing ) so had high expectations. Some of these were met, some were not.
The good...
A true rear wheel drive car, handles very well and drives nicely.
Power to spare! The 4.0L inline 6 is still doing an exceptional job. It's smooth and balanced, as an inline should be.
6sp auto with "tiptronic" shifting. I'ts pretty good and matches the engine well. It get's thing right 95% of the time. The gears are "tight" off the line with minimal slip in the TC.
Dash and interior is OK, basic control works fairly well.
Turning circle is great.
Lots of head room and seat controls are great.
Good fuel economy 12.7lt/100km @ 55kmh around town
Now the bad...
The steering wheel controls are circa 2001. They don't light up and while they can be "felt" to work them out, the lights in the VZ buttons are better.
Open diff. I have no idea what Ford was thinking on this one but it wasn't good. The thing spins all over the place and if it wasn't for DSC you probably wouldn't move off the line at times.
Horrid, horrid head rests! They are angled too far forward and if you get the back rest adjusted nicely, the head rest pushes into the back of your head.
Climate control: No "instant max hot / cold" setting. You need to progress the selected temp range from the current setting to +30' and back again in steps of 1'. Not a huge problem but not as good as just pressing the "H" button.
Headlight control. I like the Holden idea of turning off the lights when you lock the car. The Ford just beeps at you inside the car and then leaves them on. It may be a setting, that I haven't found yet though. It is very anoying......
In summary, I'd buy one of these. It's a great car and well worth looking at
Holden VE Omega Sportwagon 2009:
OK, this is the wifes car so I have more "experience" in it than the others. It's an early 2009 model though and is a baseline model, so a good comparison for the Aurion.Being a Holden it has the "old friend" feel which helps put you at ease quickly.
The good points...
Drives very well. In fact I have to say that the base model VE wagon feels better through twisty corners than the VZ SS does.
Dash ergonomics are very good. Holden got these pretty right I think.
Economy is very good, 12.8lt/100km @ 42kmh.
Engine is OK, but not as powerful as the ford.
The Bad...
The 4sp box is old. It had the big 1-2 dead spot that was a real pain till it was "fixed". The 6sp in the 2010 model should fix this though.
The V6 is a tad rougher than the inline 6 of the Ford. Not a lot, but it is noisier.
The 3.6 is around 20kw less powerful than the Ford. Combined with the difference in the gear box and you can really feel it in the car.
The VE hand brake handle. the worst piece of design in the whole car. This thing is horrid.
The sharp edge under the read window wiper. Any one that has cleaned the back window of a wagon knows what I'm talking about.
Summary.... Again, I'd buy one of these especially now that they come with the SIDI motor and the 6sp auto.
So when it comes time to buy a "family" car next, I can't say what I will be looking at, but I know I'll not spend a lot of time looking at Toyota or Hyundai. Of course it will all depend on what I'm looking for and bugets involved, but I'm very happy to see that the traditional Aussie cars are as good if not better than the OS makers offerings.
Simon.
Over the past 10 weeks I've had the "privilege" of drive quite a few hire cars thanks to the May hail storms in Melb. While it's been rather frustrating not having my own car, it has allowed me to drive a number of vehicles for an extended time and get an idea of what it's be like to own one. It's been much better than a short squirt in a demo, so I thought I'd share.
The cars in order of testing are...
Toyota Aurion 2009: Base "hire car" model with 6 spd Auto and 3.5L V6.
Hyundai Elantra 2009: Base "hire car" model with 4spd Auto and a petrol "starter motor".....
Ford 2010 FG XR6: Base XR6 with 6spd Auto and 4.0L in line 6.
Holden 2009 VE Sportwagon Omega: Base "corp lease" car with 4spd Auto and 3.6L V6. This is actually the wifes car
So given that list, here's my views on each car.
Aurion:
To be perfectly honest, I was looking forward to this. As much as I like my Holdens, I've always had a believed that Toyota made a very good car and easily rivaled the build quality of Holden. Being Japanese, I was looking forward to some well thought out designs and user comforts.
I was sadly disappointed. This car was a shock to me and had me thinking that I must have really been expecting too much. It wasn't all bad, but for me there was more bad than good. If you didn't care too much and just wanted something to get from A to B, then it did an OK job. The only thing is that there are plenty of cars in that league and I was expecting a little more from Toyota.
First, the good points.
The engine has gobs of power. If it could get grip it's be a very fast car.
The auto is pretty good too. Not fantastic, but pretty good.
It's got good fuel economy for the power it's delivering.
that's about it for good things, now for things that really put me off.
A stupid foot "emergency / park" brake that you would knock and release every time you got out of the car.
A dash layout and control that is stuck in 1980. Nothing is combined, it's all over the place. Resetting the trip "counter" is a "press the button" job like the old mechanical dials. the "over speed" control is part of the center dash clock. It's got a feeling that they just threw in a bunch of bits left over and hoped it would work.
BRIGHT, BRIGHT, BRIGHT white LED's in the center console that can not be dimmed! What a right royal pain that was when driving at night. All you got was glare off the console when trying to look out the windscreen.
No grip on the front wheels. Hire car tyres probably didn't help but it was woeful. You couldn't use half of the engine power in the dry, let alone if it was wet.
Huge turning circle. I haven't looked up the specs on each car for this, but perception was that this thing should have been articulated! The first time I tried turning around in my drive I almost cleaned up the bins and another car. Maybe it's got a proportional rack and is slower to turn at the beginning? What ever it is, I felt like I was driving a bus.
Auto up/down windows. I actually wanted these in my car, until I tried them out. Now I know why Holden has stayed clear of them. Try and just crack the window and you end up just going down - up - down - up - down - up. It'd probably be OK after a month of practice.
So, in summary.... My views of Toyota have changed, I no longer hold them any where near a high as I used to.
Hyundai Elantra:
OK, don't laugh. To be honest I thought the guy from the hire company said it was a "Lancer" and I thought it'd be good to try a Mitsu as a direct comparison to the Toyota ( which I was glad to hand back ). I wasn't expecting much, which may have helped my final thoughts on the car. Build quality was OK as was the general layout inside the car. It wasn't the most prestigious car but I was pleasantly surprised.
Good points...
Not too bad to drive. A little lacking in power but I didn't expect a lot.
Dash layout and control was very good. I could dim the center console as well!
Gearbox shifted fairly well
Used very little fuel
Bad Points...
The engine sounded like a chaff cutter over 4000 RPM. This wouldn't have been as bad if you didn't need to keep revving it to get anywhere.
I'm used to a bit of power, this didn't have any. I might have been able to use it to start the 6L in the VZ, but even then it would probably struggle.
No respect..... I hadn't noticed this before but no one cares about a Hyundai. In the VZ I could indicate and people let me in, in the Hyundai, I had gaps closed on me and people pushing in.
In summary, not a bad little car and probably OK value for money. Not my cup of tea though.
Ford FG XR6 2010:
This really got me excited. This was a great chance to sample a direct competitor to the VE range, and it certainly has not disappointed. It's an "upper level" car though, so I wasn't sure what to expect but I was thinking along the lines of the Toyota ( pre testing ) so had high expectations. Some of these were met, some were not.
The good...
A true rear wheel drive car, handles very well and drives nicely.
Power to spare! The 4.0L inline 6 is still doing an exceptional job. It's smooth and balanced, as an inline should be.
6sp auto with "tiptronic" shifting. I'ts pretty good and matches the engine well. It get's thing right 95% of the time. The gears are "tight" off the line with minimal slip in the TC.
Dash and interior is OK, basic control works fairly well.
Turning circle is great.
Lots of head room and seat controls are great.
Good fuel economy 12.7lt/100km @ 55kmh around town
Now the bad...
The steering wheel controls are circa 2001. They don't light up and while they can be "felt" to work them out, the lights in the VZ buttons are better.
Open diff. I have no idea what Ford was thinking on this one but it wasn't good. The thing spins all over the place and if it wasn't for DSC you probably wouldn't move off the line at times.
Horrid, horrid head rests! They are angled too far forward and if you get the back rest adjusted nicely, the head rest pushes into the back of your head.
Climate control: No "instant max hot / cold" setting. You need to progress the selected temp range from the current setting to +30' and back again in steps of 1'. Not a huge problem but not as good as just pressing the "H" button.
Headlight control. I like the Holden idea of turning off the lights when you lock the car. The Ford just beeps at you inside the car and then leaves them on. It may be a setting, that I haven't found yet though. It is very anoying......
In summary, I'd buy one of these. It's a great car and well worth looking at
Holden VE Omega Sportwagon 2009:
OK, this is the wifes car so I have more "experience" in it than the others. It's an early 2009 model though and is a baseline model, so a good comparison for the Aurion.Being a Holden it has the "old friend" feel which helps put you at ease quickly.
The good points...
Drives very well. In fact I have to say that the base model VE wagon feels better through twisty corners than the VZ SS does.
Dash ergonomics are very good. Holden got these pretty right I think.
Economy is very good, 12.8lt/100km @ 42kmh.
Engine is OK, but not as powerful as the ford.
The Bad...
The 4sp box is old. It had the big 1-2 dead spot that was a real pain till it was "fixed". The 6sp in the 2010 model should fix this though.
The V6 is a tad rougher than the inline 6 of the Ford. Not a lot, but it is noisier.
The 3.6 is around 20kw less powerful than the Ford. Combined with the difference in the gear box and you can really feel it in the car.
The VE hand brake handle. the worst piece of design in the whole car. This thing is horrid.
The sharp edge under the read window wiper. Any one that has cleaned the back window of a wagon knows what I'm talking about.
Summary.... Again, I'd buy one of these especially now that they come with the SIDI motor and the 6sp auto.
So when it comes time to buy a "family" car next, I can't say what I will be looking at, but I know I'll not spend a lot of time looking at Toyota or Hyundai. Of course it will all depend on what I'm looking for and bugets involved, but I'm very happy to see that the traditional Aussie cars are as good if not better than the OS makers offerings.
Simon.