Ya but I dont look at the interior when I drive! I look through the windshield.

 

I must have a more panaromic vision as you & what about the stops in the traffic Jams ?

 

True, but Vancouver is a lot different than south western Ontario.

 

Haha my panaromic vision, is used up looking at the mirrors and blind spots for any cars, altough once or twice a car did sneak by me.

Stops im looking at the light and light transverse to me as well as transverse traffic, ussually im thinking turn green... turn green! for Im on my way to work...

Traffic Jams.. Oh boy... Im looking at the car ahead and seeing how much room I have to stop, im trying to make the stop as smooth as possible and take a decent amount to room to stop. (I was rear ended by someone that did not see a pedestrian red light thus this fear is still there.) meanwhile im crabeyeing with my right eye is looking at the car behind me with the rear view mirror seeing if he sees me and is not asleep on the wheel! I employ generous use of the hazard lights, (seems to get drivers attention more then jsut brake lights alone, if an abrubt stop happens due to traffic.

When driving on desolate hours (I work nightshift. so work is out after 4 am.).. Im looking at the corner of that highway on ramp and thinking where to brake and where to open up slightly so I can somewhat apex that turn while still staying within my lane boundaries. Its a toss up at this point whether I want to shift the car to L to get better accelaration at the exit at the cost of entry speed, but perhaps better exit accelaration or do I leave it in 2, and still late brake (front tires arent as good as rear so sometimes I have to brake in mid turn ever so slightly so as to not understeer to badly as SC300s are understeer queens! Or just rotate the rear end into neutral handling.) But then accelarate out of the turn in second gear as the auto tranny has plain to long of a gear and is stuck between that dead in between point, and I dont want to shock the drive train by forcing it to shift into the obnoxiously long 1st gear! All this until I reach 5 or 10 mph above posted speed limit or speed of traffic in the highway, and in a slow car like mine thats plenty of time to have a little bit of fun! Ok here I glance at the rev limiter since im manually shifting... youre right I do have a pretty nice gauge cluster!

 

Thanks for taking the time for a nice writeup

but I do all that & still see every detail of the interior

 

We buy our cars for comfort because we actually enjoy and spend time driving the car, not to gut it out to remove unsprung weight.

 

Glad you know how to drive in oh so challenging Arizona. If you crave fast cars so much, why did you go out of your way to buy a used SC300 and an automatic to boot? This topic is about the C&D comparo...not about your daily life and how you abuse your cars.

 

Good...I hope so. Too many people spend time behind the wheel NOT driving it.....yes, even while the car is moving. Cell phones, hair dryers, electric shavers, McDonalds' food, newspapers, stock quotes, I-Drive, ....you name it.

Anyhow...back to the thread topic....the 3-car comparison. One very important thing I forgot to mention in my last post, when I was talking about the Five Hundred's Volvo-based Haldex AWD and wagon-based Freestyle being good all-weather vehicles for suburban soccer and shopping moms is that both the 300C and the wagon-version Dodge Magnum will also offer AWD versions, although the Magnum has small windows that are hard to see out of and does not have the efficiency of the Five Hundred's CVT transmission.

It would have been interesting to see how the Chevy Impala would have compared to this group....especially the supercharged 3.8L Impala SS , whose HP ratings would be close to the Avalon's and whose torque would have exceeded it. I have driven the regular 3.8 Impala but not the supercharged SS. I HAVE driven the blown 3.8, though in the Grand Prix GTP and Regal GS.

 

I'm sure Arizona's cities have their share of traffic...and are growing, but if you want to see REAL traffic jams, try the Washington-Baltimore area or (even more) the L.A. basin in SoCal.

 

I had a glad laugh from reading this

Yeah, try the 5/10/110 downtown LA (doesn't even have to be rush-hour)
It's a night-mare, and people in LA can tell you this.

The 300 does look expensive, not bad when they placed it next to the bentley
I still haven't seen the inside of the avalon

 

No surprise here - the 500 is just trash and the 300 is about as refined, elegant and luxurious as an oil field.

I saw a white Avalon XLS on the road today - pretty nice. The trunk didn't quite fit on perfectly - but hey, if you get all flustered over a few milimeters - it's time to buy a Lexus.

M.

 

Why do you call the 500 trash? Have you seen or driven one...or its wagon-brother the Freestyle?
The general complaint is low HP (203) but the super-efficient CVT transmission (standard on AWD's) gives it performance equal to 230-240 HP with a conventional automatic, with mileage comparable to a stick. You are probably going to see more vehicles in the future with this type of drivetrain.

 

i wonder if they test it on the really steep downhill. i drove the new avalon two or 3 weeks ago and it was pretty fast but i dont think it can get to 60 in 6 seconds.

 

I drove it's Mercury brother the other day at a Mercury test drive event, it sure is a step above the Taurus and the Crown Vic in terms of interior space. Very smooth and compliant. But it does have the great qualities of a Hertz Rent A Car (It actually was a new Hertz fleet car with the tags and everything).

 

Well with a 2nd or 3rd person in the car and a not so broken in engine with less than 50 miles, you wont experience that initially.