beautiful inside and outside. Great ride. Lower than expected city mpg and horrifically loud reverse noise.
we bought this car for my wife. we tested out about 10 other vehicles and when she saw this car and drove it, that was it. its a beauty. highway mpg often 38+, city at best 32-33mpg. these are the numbers we're hitting at about 2000-3000 miles. One thing we did not notice when test driving was how loud the reverse noise is. From inside the car, you can't really tell, given that this vehicle insulates well against external noise. However , when standing outside...wow. This suv is nearly perfect to me and I give it high marks in nearly all categories. I love so much about it. However I will likely trade it in sooner than I want to because of the noise it makes in reverse. There are forums dedicated to this issue online and some downplay it but the issue is truly real. The noise it makes in reverse is very loud and sounds like a school bus or a dump truck backing up. Have you ever been woken up by a dump truck beeping outside your home? That is nearly how loud this reverse noise is. I have set off the alarms of other vehicles when out in public when backing up and can hear the noise all throughout my home when my wife backs out of the drive way. Why on earth would anybody need to be able to hear this back up noise from within a building? Loudness is one major issue. Positioning of the reverse noise speaker is another. The noise is transmitted from the front, not the rear as you would expect given that you're probably trying to warn other persons and or vehicles behind you. Major design and function issue. The placement seems like a rushed add on to meet some sort of safety rule. I recommend that anyone considering this vehicle listen to it in reverse both from within the car and outside the car. Anyone living in a very quiet area or apartment complex where parking is near residences should be wary of this vehicle. Also , for those who drive mostly in the city, the mpg is not as high as advertised. I imagine this will make it signficantly less of an appealing factor to others when attempting to re-sell.