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Good Grades: Nice Exterior Styling, comfortable front seats, decent front and rear visibility, good instrumentation on the dash, lots of cargo room, sliding second row seats, fuel economy okay for a large, heavy crossover (17 mpg city, 24 mpg highway), the steering feel is a bit over-boosted but acceptable.
Bad grades: The six-speed automatic transmission seems to hunt at times, body roll, this is a very heavy crossover—its base curb weight is 5066 pounds—Yikes!—and the brakes work hard to stop it. The 281 horsepower, 3.6 liter V6 pulls adequately, but feels taxed pulling 2 ½ tons-plus around. Interior plastics on the dash are satisfactory, but could be better on the doors. I didn’t like the cloth materials on the seat—a bit on the rough side. While the second row seats do slide forward, access to the third-row rear seats still feels awkward. Also, the third-row rear seats are too tight and uncomfortable for adults.
Final Grade: This crossover has its shortcomings, but it still comes off as a likable vehicle. Put it on a diet, give it some more horsepower, get rid of the hapless third-row seats, and give it some better interior materials (the seats, especially), and it will be much improved.
The Car Exam Grade: B/B-
Base MSRP: $29,999 (with $775 Destination Charges included)
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