Kia Rondo Replacements
Re: Caprice engine swap?
There's still a 3.6L ATS Premium at that CarMax though. I might try to check that out tomorrow.
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
This.kevm14 wrote:It probably goes without saying that you need to go drive one. The fact that one showed up by the way probably means there is some demand for them in your area, given what happened to the last one.
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
Okay, so next time there's an SS at my local CarMax, I'm just going to drop everything and go drive it 
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
I saw the black one here at work yesterday. It really is stealth and I like that. I have no idea why your dad just doesn't own one yet. Then you could do an extended test drive (ok not in the winter in Maine).
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
I will state the obvious: Go drive it.
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
I plan on it. I don't like going to conventional dealers as much because of the harassment after the test drive, but maybe this will be a little better since it's an Infiniti dealer. This price is actually fairly good considering the mileage.
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
I was discussing this with Adam at lunch. Carmax may have been better but the Infinity dealer will be great if you get left alone for the drive. They will know you can't be up-sold into a Q60 or whatever the hell they have now. Although, please report any attempt to compare the SS to anything else on their lot.
That said, the Q60 Redsport or whatever has a similar performance envelope.
That said, the Q60 Redsport or whatever has a similar performance envelope.
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
I wouldn't turn down a Q50 Red Sport test drive if they offered it to me.
Re: Kia Rondo Replacements
So I finally drove the SS yesterday. I called ahead to the Infiniti dealer to make my test drive seem as legit as possible. When I got there, they had to bring the car around so I took a short tour of the dealership. The Infiniti dealer is quite nice, definitely a step up from your average entry level car dealer.
The guy who drove it around (not the sales guy) commented, "this thing's like a four door Corvette." As it turns out, the sales guy I got is a car enthusiast so that definitely helped the overall experience. He told me he had to drive first and when we left the dealer he held it right on the floor until we hit 75. There was a lot of traction control involved. We stopped a couple miles later to swap seats. I drove fairly conservatively at first, just wanting to get a feel for the car. He encouraged me to hammer on it and took me on a pretty nice back road drive. I really liked the ride and handling of the car. I didn't find it to be harsh at all. I found the shifting to be a bit fast, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I floored the car in a straight line from a stop on one back road and it spun a lot on the 1-2 shift. The temperature was in the upper 40s so maybe some of that was due to relatively cold pavement. Kevin and I later surmised that maybe the car had a tune because it also had an intake installed.
Highs: the powertrain (I think this goes without saying). It sounds awesome and pulls hard from idle to redline. It's also very responsive and shifts fast (not sure how much of that was due to the tune. The ride/handling balance was very good and the car was very composed even over rough (for NC) roads. Plenty of back seat space. User interface has real knobs and buttons, unlike CUE. Trunk is spacious.
Lows: Steering a bit lighter and number than I expected. I kick myself for not checking which mode the car was in so I could at least see if the steering weight could be improved. I know those modes with EPS don't really do anything for feel.
Verdict: Still a strong contender, but I also really want to drive a Vsport now to see if I like the steering better.
The guy who drove it around (not the sales guy) commented, "this thing's like a four door Corvette." As it turns out, the sales guy I got is a car enthusiast so that definitely helped the overall experience. He told me he had to drive first and when we left the dealer he held it right on the floor until we hit 75. There was a lot of traction control involved. We stopped a couple miles later to swap seats. I drove fairly conservatively at first, just wanting to get a feel for the car. He encouraged me to hammer on it and took me on a pretty nice back road drive. I really liked the ride and handling of the car. I didn't find it to be harsh at all. I found the shifting to be a bit fast, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I floored the car in a straight line from a stop on one back road and it spun a lot on the 1-2 shift. The temperature was in the upper 40s so maybe some of that was due to relatively cold pavement. Kevin and I later surmised that maybe the car had a tune because it also had an intake installed.
Highs: the powertrain (I think this goes without saying). It sounds awesome and pulls hard from idle to redline. It's also very responsive and shifts fast (not sure how much of that was due to the tune. The ride/handling balance was very good and the car was very composed even over rough (for NC) roads. Plenty of back seat space. User interface has real knobs and buttons, unlike CUE. Trunk is spacious.
Lows: Steering a bit lighter and number than I expected. I kick myself for not checking which mode the car was in so I could at least see if the steering weight could be improved. I know those modes with EPS don't really do anything for feel.
Verdict: Still a strong contender, but I also really want to drive a Vsport now to see if I like the steering better.