We took the new QX on an hour and a half drive up the interstate to Bellingham WA this morning. This was the first time to get out of the congestion and on the open road. Weather was great, and gave me a chance to concentrate more on the vehicle than dealing with road conditions. First off the bad: at 70 mph I experience a bit of wheel shudder that found it's way to the steering wheel on a particularly rough patch of road. No big surprise considering the mass of the tires and wheels on the 2008. Other than that the car tracked straight and didn't follow the ruts in the road which I've experienced in other vehicles with wide tires. There is a good twenty miles of rough road on I-5 between Everett and Bellingham and thus plenty of opportunity to find fault with the suspension, rattles and creaks and other nuisances. The good news: No rattles, the ride was firm but not jarring like you'd find in a pickup, and although the interior is not pin-drop quiet, road noise is negligible. I've been using a portable XM radio for several years on this stretch of road and have experienced quite a lot of dropped signal but the QX's position of the antenna is much better and we only lost signal three times for no more than a second or two while in the twisties as we approached Bellingham. Interestingly the signal meter on the nav screen did not register any drop in signal. This is the third new vehicle I’ve had with drive-by-wire throttle. I’m happy to say this is the best. My Chevy 1 ton Diesel is also well mannered but our 2005 Sequoia was extremely touchy off the line. In fact I find myself waiting for the ‘jerk’ every time the light turns green but in the QX it’s always effortless and smooth. The outside temp this morning was 33 to 38 on the drive up and I set my inside temp to 75 and left the seat heater on low. I was perfectly comfortable and didn’t have to shut the seat warmer off until just minutes before we reached our destination. The Sequoia heated seats; five minutes on low was as long as I could stand it. 4 minutes on low in the Chevy and I’m cooked. It’s a small thing but at the same time it’s one less knob to mess with. The heated steering wheel, that’s another matter. It gets warm quick and I have to shut it off after just a couple minutes in the QX. Better too warm than not warm enough though especially if you’ve been out chipping ice off the windshield. Mileage came in at 16 (by the computer) and that was mostly 70mph stuff. That’s roughly 1.5 mpg less than what I’d see in the Sequoia, 4.7 l V8 vs the 5.6 l V8 in the QX. No complaints there. I can’t say enough about the incredibly smooth acceleration you experience in the QX. One other advantage to more torque in the QX; there is a ½ mile stretch of incline as you travel south on I-5 and the Sequoia would always downshift (loaded or not) at 70 but not the QX. 1900 RPM all the way up the hill, no problem.The best part of the trip for me though was watching an episode of the Honey Mooners on the Nav system while the women were in shopping. Now that's priceless.

Great write-up! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks also for having an excuse of why I don't need to go into the mall...I'm watching a DVD and protecting the Q-ship from those crazy mall door denters!

That’s a good point keg97. The inevitable door dings. I’m not going to sit here and profess total innocence of the offense either. It’s happened to me, getting stuff out of the car, the door gets away and ‘ding’ the damage is done. As you’ve pointed out though, sitting in the car and making your presence known is probably the best deterrent. People tend to be more aware of their actions when they’re being watched. So turn up the volume on that DVD and let em know you’re watching.

q56er wrote:That’s a good point keg97. The inevitable door dings. I’m not going to sit here and profess total innocence of the offense either. It’s happened to me, getting stuff out of the car, the door gets away and ‘ding’ the damage is done. As you’ve pointed out though, sitting in the car and making your presence known is probably the best deterrent. People tend to be more aware of their actions when they’re being watched. So turn up the volume on that DVD and let em know you’re watching.

Hey nobody is perfect....I put a little dent in the door at the gas station when a gust of wind blew the door into the brick support

My wife commented that when we get the new QX that it is so big that she'll be forced to park in the far reaches of the lots. I just smiled

Her current ride has gotten a bit banged up, especially as it has gotten older and she has gotten less inclined to "park well".My car on the other hand is almost 4 years old and has no dings (knocks on wood). I usually take great pains to park in the further reaches of the lots. I never take up two spots or anything bad like that, but I do believe in taking car of your vehicles so that they look nice.

Speaking of scratches, when doing the original vehicle inspection at the dealer we noticed a slight scratch behind one of the door handles. When we took it back 3 days later to have the paint protection done I pointed out another scratch we'd missed. I asked them to address both scratches. Well, they fixed the first scratch but they actually made the second scratch worse. Looks like they took 100 grit sandpaper to it. Guys and gals, be very careful what you ask of your dealer, you may get more than you bargained for!

I agree! Sometimes you are better off taking care of things on your own.