Repair-It

Aside from a power steering pump failure (which was already in the works, I think the trip just finished the job - I first noticed something amiss about a month ago), I enjoyed this vehicle for our NH vacation this week. Highlights included:

- The A/C works well, including the rear A/C. However, at extended idle in gear, it doesn't stay ice cold if it is really hot out and the fan speed is cranked. This is probably normal.

- The Ultraview roof is pretty awesome. Ian loves it. He requested that we open it frequently during the trip.

- The Northstar is a nice engine. I maintain I would prefer a small block for simplicity even if that sacrificed some refinement. But as delivered, this engine is extremely smooth, silent at idle, and packs a decent punch when needed. I executed probably over a dozen WOT passes along the trip and I always enjoyed winding it out. It has that "exotic" dual overhead cam metallic growl over 4000rpm or so. The gearing is quite tall in 6th, like 80mph @ 2000rpm. So it can't pull too steep of a hill without downshifting to 5th. It is also not uncommon for it to torque itself around at 40-45mph in 6th at like 1200rpm, even on a slight incline. I do think throttle response is acceptable on this engine/calibration. I don't know if it's truly snappy but it's quite satisfactory.

- The gas mileage still doesn't seem that great. I never saw over 19 MPG. This car has native 2008 ratings of 13/20. I think with the cruise on 65 on a flat road you could achieve 20, so I'd wager that the 2008 ratings are fairly accurate on this vehicle. That said, I would have expected a bit over 20 on a long trip, given the tall gearing and fancy variable valve timing and whatnot. Though, this is still a ~4,600 lb AWD vehicle with 320 hp.

- I tried Sport mode on the trans while executing some maneuvers on a 2 lane up in the White Mountains. It turns out Sport mode is actually pretty good and makes the car feel even more athletic. Example: It delays shifts and TCC locking just enough to wake up the car to be more responsive when you aren't going for the max fuel economy possible. This is helpful. Also, it has some good shift logic. Example: After passing at WOT, it held the lower gears for a few seconds to make sure I was really done mashing on it. Also, I got on the brakes moderately hard and it downshifted right along with the car slowing down, adding engine braking, and making itself ready if I needed to mash again.

- The torque converter feels like something the quality aftermarket units always strive for. It can get pretty loose if you are on the throttle (but prior to a downshift), yet it is tight at moderate to light throttle. This keeps throttle response good, without everything feeling mushy. Basically, this is ideal TC performance. The torque converter clutch also locks as much as possible, which you'd expect. This is the 6L50 trans, which was only a year old for this model year. BMW still buys them for some 1- and 3-series as well as the X1 (I'm sure at a cheaper price than whatever ZF is selling) and has since 2007.

- I've mentioned this before, but when manually shifting (in Sport mode only) it does rev match all shifts, which keeps them smooth and avoids unnecessary wear on the trans, too. Nice. Same benefits as rev matching a manual trans.

- Given the comfortable ride, the handling is impressive. If it were up to me and this was something I was daily driving, I would like to have seen an FE2 or FE3 version of this car. With FE1 and shocks with 94k on them, it feels pretty soft. However, it somehow feels solid and stable in corners. Always compliant on bumps. I guess this is the mark of a sophisticated suspension. It is the same as my CTS-V in terms of geometry/layout so not surprising I guess.

- Rear seat DVD entertainment worked out really well. I've also mentioned this before but the BOSE 5.1 surround really works, no joke. Pretty strong audio system, as well. I could have maximized the utility of the system by giving Ian the wireless headphones, playing our own music and simultaneously using the nav system. So many features.

- Speaking of the nav system, the car did do one thing that I found strange. When we left for our trip, the screen was completely dead. No display and did not react to taps (where I thought there were buttons). This caused us to have to drive until we stopped for lunch using the Garmin on the windshield, and having one of his music CDs on repeat. Ugh. I researched the issue at a Panera in MA somewhere. Some folks say they had to have their system replaced. Double ugh. But another person said after 20-30 minutes it would work again. After lunch, we went back to the car, and sure enough, it fired up as if nothing happened. This happened precisely zero other times on the trip. I do have a theory but I don't know how legitimate it is. Anytime you open a door, you can hear the nav DVD accessing. I think it is doing something with the maps. Anyway, when we were loading the car, we were constantly opening and closing the doors, and the rear hatch. So it must have been cycling a ton. Perhaps something odd happened and maybe the CAN/LAN farted and something lost comms temporarily, until the system "resets" after 30 minutes. That would make this a potential software/firmware bug. Just a theory.

- I continue to be amazed that there is zero tramline with this car. It rides on Goodyear Eagle RS-As, which are not my favorite tire. And they are 255/50-20s all around. Yet it is always effortless to keep going in a straight line. The ratio is slow, but there is no apparent play. I think there is some actual feel, but with the dying P/S pump, there would be no way to tell right now. I will say that railroad tracks actually moved the wheel an inch or two, indicating that feedback gets back to the wheel from the tires. This did not change the car's direction of travel, as it was momentary.

- The DIC appears to be dead nuts on, to the tenth of a MPG. This is similar to my CTS-V.

Overall, the highway (and road trip) satisfaction is made up of a comfortable driving position, supportive (and surprisingly firm) seats, no drama steering, power on demand, quiet interior, good A/C, and strong audio. Just need to replace the power steering pump (see my other thread)...

Sweet! There is another SRX for sale in the dealership across the street from Allies Donuts. You can probably trade the CTS-V for it.

4 years later, same trip coming up. P/S hoses fixed, #1 coil replaced....131k now. Should be fine.

I seem to have misplaced the other wireless headphones for the rear seat entertainment but it has two jacks anyway so no big deal.

Car did fine. 132k now.

For interior stuff:
- I gave Ian my good Sony headphones. There are two analog jacks with their own independent volume knobs in the rear. I think he liked having this as he could switch the source to whatever. At one point he was listening to my aux in music and said it sounded better through the headphones - yeah, it does, they are good, especially for the price. Owen used the wireless headphones. Using the analog headphones I exposed even more possible sources. Front speakers can be whatever (aux in for example). Then the rear could be DVD. But another rear headphone can have a third source if desired. While using the front speakers you can also press a button to play on all speakers even though the rear passengers are presumably listening to headphones. So the system is highly configurable but for all I know this is par for the course with the rear seat entertainment stuff. Never had it before.

- I have to say I do not find the audio quality of this audio system to be very good, at least for music. Aside from sounding sort of average overall, the single biggest annoyance is the way it handles bass. It is muddy and boomy and not well defined. It sounds like there are peaks and holes all over the place at the low end. It's frustrating because on 5.1 sources it is very capable so I think it has something to do with the sub tuning. When I was researching that fast blinker issue a while back I noted that an amp software update may be available and I recall reading that bass improved afterward so, if I really get excited, I may look into this. As it stands I think the CTS-V may sound better even though it is supposed to be a lower end system. The STS blows both of them away. They are all BOSE so just goes to show that brand is not everything.

- A/C was good though temps weren't that crazy. I don't think I saw anything over 90 the whole trip and certainly less in NH. I did discover that the system seems to run on the warmer side in terms of calibration. I ended up having to set it at like 68 a lot of the time where 71 probably would have been comfortable in my STS. But it is able to cool and regulate temp just fine, just requires a lower setting to do so.

- These are the firmest Sigma seats of all my vehicles (in the softest vehicle, see next section). Pretty great long trip support.

- The Ultraview roof was nice to have. We opened it quite a bit up in NH.

Powertrain and chassis:
- Brakes have little dead travel which is nice. But these Advance Auto pads (and everything else I've ever run) don't bite. Really, nothing this car does bites or responds quickly except the engine in some circumstances. Somehow FE1 seems to seep into everything else. It drives like a luxury car which means for my driving style I am sort of always fighting the way it really wants to behave. FE3 tuning does make a big difference on these and they drive a lot more like my STS (though I don't think transmission tuning comes with that). Also this is Jamie's car and all of the tuning stuff suits her just fine. The steering ratio is slow but the on center play is the tightest of my entire fleet. Overall this vehicle just eats up highway miles and will cruise at 90 mph all day if you have the balls for it, the only flaw there being that it can't pull 6th up some hills. 80mph is 2000rpm in 6th so you do the math - that is quite tall.

- The transmission can be clunky at times. I much prefer the older 5L50 in my STS here to the newer 6L50 in the SRX. The gear spacing is wide, maybe too wide, it upshifts too early, the torque converter is always locking up and lugging the engine whenever possible (thanks to CAFE tuning), and it probably could use a 3.42 axle with these giant wheels vice the 3.23. It is not uncommon to see the engine at like 1200rpm around town, even under light acceleration. You have to be liberal with the throttle at times and sometimes it feels like I wouldn't need to put my foot so far into it if it just was in the proper gear to begin with. I think this kind of tuning started to appear right around this time as CAFE got more restrictive so I do not think it is a coincidence. I may want to do another trans fluid change though.

- I used manual shifting a bit on hills and especially on Mt Washington. It rev matches all downshifts (the STS cannot do this). In 3rd gear or above it will lock the torque converter under like 50% throttle. Coming down the mountain I used a combo of 2nd and 1st gear. Due to the compression and being a V8 this engine had a lot of engine braking. Downshifts on the hill could be a little unsettling because it blips the throttle between gears and for a brief moment you begin to coast faster before the lower gear engages and engine braking resumes. Coasting 1-2 upshifts were clunky and I think this was all driveline lash. I am not going on a lash hunt as these all pretty much do it but there are a number of items that cause it.

- Up in the mountains loaded with stuff and people the 320hp seemed to be spread thin but I still felt like I had more reserve than a lot of the other family vehicles in the same circumstances and thus was still able to make passes.

- On the way back we averaged like 19.5 and that probably would have been higher were it not for some traffic and some driving around town before leaving. This powertrain is sort of caught in an awkward spot. It started to have transmission tuning to help fuel economy on an engine design dating back to the early 90s (though heavily revised for 2004). So some of the drivability is fuel economy focused yet the overall fuel economy isn't very good anyway. On premium fuel. The only alternative would be a FWD based large crossover with a V6 (or maybe higher power turbo 4) to maintain interior space and performance and probably add 4 or 5 mpg to the bottom line. Is that worth the cost of buying what would ultimately be like a 2015 or newer model year? Highly unlikely, at least not for that specific reason.

- Power steering was fine and the coil was fine.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a1 ... st-review/

This is not a supreme improvement to be honest. It is like 200 lbs heavier with 45 more hp and 35 lb-ft, from a twin turbo V6. Runs 14.5 @ 97. We're talking like a few tenths and a few mph. Not huge. And C&D got 18 mpg, again maybe a couple better. This is very incremental, not a world of difference.