Picture file under http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/car_shopping/
what_s_new_for_2009_car_news/browse_by_make/acura_car_news
Cure Your Diabetes
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Honda Acura 2009 - Picture
2009 Infiniti G37 Sport Sedan
BY ERIK JOHNSON
Article file under http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/
car_shopping/entry_luxury/2009_infiniti_g37_sport_sedan_short_take_road_test
Redesigned for 2007, the second-generation Infiniti G35 sedan was good. Really good. Good enough to get all up in the faces of the competition and fall only to the benchmark BMW 3-series in its last comparison test. Good enough to have been invited to join us for a 40,000-mile fling. Good enough, in fact, to have secured itself a place on our 2007 10Best Cars list. But now it’s dead. And we don’t care. 
We don’t mourn too deeply, you see, because the G35 has been replaced for 2009 by the G37. It’s still a second-gen G sedan, of course, but one that has been revised in several major areas. 
Brains and Brawn: More MPG and More HP
Under the hood, the 306-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 has been kicked to the curb in favor of the 3.7-liter unit from the G37 coupe. The move adds 22 horsepower and variable valve timing to the sedan’s arsenal, with output now standing at 328 galloping ponies. Torque rises by just one, to 269 pound-feet, but the smooth-spinning six serves up adequate grunt no matter where the tach needle is pointing. 
Fuel economy is unchanged for the manual-transmission model, but the rest of the lineup—which now uses a seven-speed automatic in place of the old five-speed—sees gains of 1 mpg in the city and 2 on the highway to 18/26 for rear-wheel-drive cars and 18/25 for the all-wheel-drive G37x. We recorded our observed fuel economy, but then either a staffer took the logbook home for bathroom reading or a sticky-fingered Infiniti PR rep snatched it up in the middle of the night, because it’s gone now. 
Curiously, the additional power didn’t do a lot for the G37 at the test track, where we logged a 0-to-60-mph time of 5.2 seconds and a quarter-mile run of 13.8 seconds at 104 mph. Although quick, those digits lag 0.1 second each behind the best runs posted by its 3.5-liter predecessor (5.1 seconds and 13.7 at 104 mph). Admittedly, the results of various G35 Sports ranged as high as 5.5 seconds to 60 and 14.1 seconds through the quarter, and our G37 was a nearly factory-fresh car with a green motor, so there’s a chance the latest G could improve its results. Curb weight could also be a bit of a factor, as the G37 rang in at 3703 pounds, 120 pounds more than the slimmest G35 Sport we had previously weighed.
Maybe it didn’t shine on the test track, but the G37 sedan does burn brightly in the refinement department, an area where the G35 fell decidedly short. Infiniti quelled the G’s buzzy engine and quivering shifter somewhat last year, but things are even better now, with the only hint of engine harshness at the lofty tiptop of the tach—redline is still 7600 rpm—rather than throughout.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
2009 Honda Pilot Review
Article file under http://www.automotive.com/2009/12/
honda/pilot/reviews/index.html
While the name and a minute number of parts remain the same, the 2009 Honda Pilot is a new vehicle. Every piece of sheetmetal and glass, every mechanical component, and every feature has been gone through yielding a just slightly larger Pilot that put all the space to use inside. And unlike many similar designs it didn't gain too many pounds.
An eight-passenger Pilot can handle four adults and four kids easily, or four infant seats if you have the earplugs. It has useful cargo space beyond the third-row seats so you needn't fold one to fit a cooler or week's worth of groceries. And with six cupholders in the second row alone, eight door cargo pockets and the ability to carry a 4x8-foot sheet of building material flat inside, finding a place for everything isn't an issue.
Apart from perhaps flexibility and fuel economy for like vehicles the Pilot doesn't strike one as superior in any given aspect, but rather feels like a well balanced vehicle that maintains average or better performance in any number of areas; the utility moniker is apropos. Good carrying space, road manners, and comfort are now wrapped up in a much better looking box. 
The majority of Pilots are all-wheel-drive models that allow another 1000 pounds in tow rating and provide better acceleration and climbing in snow; with the same tires and brakes, they don't stop or change direction any better than the front-drive version. If you don't tow near the maximum and live in temperate climes, Honda's Odyssey offers more room and similar flexibility and features for about the same tab as an equal-level Pilot.
Potential Pilot shoppers include all those Honda car owners who may have outgrown their sedan, Odyssey owners who bought a bigger boat or have a legitimate need for the added traction of all-wheel drive, and anyone looking to replace a traditional truck-based SUV with 95 percent of the ability for 95 percent of the owners 99 percent of the time while saving fuel and society's glare.
In footprint and operation the Pilot is one of the most efficient eight-seat crossovers around, and offers models suitable for hard-core outdoor adventurers who define camping as a sleeping bag to those who wouldn't consider adventuring unless there's a Four Seasons within an hour's drive. And if you ever get tired of it, 95 percent of a Pilot can be recycled
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