[Jay]

Well, we just completed a road trip to NYC and back to Cleveland in our 'Clave. For the first 500 miles we crawled at <56 mph and got ~26 mpg. Not bad, but we don't drive that way. (Does anyone?) Nevertheless, I'm confident we "broke it in" as the manual suggested. On the way home yesterday we did our usual 72 mph on I-80 and got 22.1 mpg. Not bad too, and right on the epa estimate. :thumb:

In another post: the terrific OnStar turn-by-turn feature.

Jay

 

[Jay]

Some more: We ordered the 2nd row bench seat and I'm happy with the decision. Unlike our minivans, the middle row seats don't recline very much. That's ok but my teenager likes to sleep whenever and wherever she can. Yesterday, she was able to stretch out across the bench and catch up with her beauty sleep! :sosad:

We were travelling this past weekend from restaurant to hotel to house to party center and used the turn by turn OnStar feature many times. It actually shows a small map on the radio display along with data about how far ahead the turn will be. It rings twice at the exact point where the turn is. I think the system must be biased towards highways instead of local roads because in one instance it insisted on sending us via the Palisades Parkway instead of via the preferred 9W two-lane road. If you ignore the spoken directions it will first try to get you back on the original course but eventually it will reconfigure the route using the local road. Also, we were able to call the OnStar operator and request an alternate route around a traffic jam approaching the GWB. That was nice. Finally, unlike dvd-based nav systems, one doesn't need to pay for updates: the OnStar data is continually updated and current. I like the Turn-by-Turn and I think nav is basically redundant.

The XM radio seems to sound much better than the Sirius radio in my Jetta. I could listen to classical music without cringing. Does anyone know if the compression scheme is "better" on XM? It was great being able to listen to Tribe games even though we were 300 miles from Ohio! We may keep the XM after the 3 month trial.

Our dealer prepped the car beautifully though he didn't understand all the electronics built in to the vehicle. He gave us the helpful hint to not give your credit card number to OnStar. They will prompt us when subscriptions are about to expire. I didn't want automatic credit card charges to be made. I paid $100 over invoice plus 2% advertising fees. I also got the $1000 Conquest rebate. Needless to say, we're very happy... so far!

Jay

 

[ticner58]

I also have the 2nd row bench ordered on my Enclave. I've wonder if I made the right choice or not. To me, the seats don't seem all that comfortable and the center arm rest is way to small. Are you happy with you're choice overall on the seating. We went with bench so we could lay them flat and pile as much as possible inside for our vacations. Our kids are out of the house, so we will spend most of the time traveling by ourself's anyway. Just curious.

 

[Jay]

ticner:

Last weekend we had three people sitting on the 2nd row bench. Although my 17 year old daughter thought the center seat belt was uncomfortable she thought the seat position itself was fine. You're right about the size of the armrest. Since it's small it really doesn't support one's arm. You're also right about folding flat to provide a continuous load surface. Since currently the center console isn't available with the captain's chairs, I'd bet there's a "hole" where it would provide a flat top otherwise. (The Chrysler Pacifica, which also has captain's chairs includes a carpet-covered flap to cover this "hole.")

We're happy with the decision and, don't forget it's a $411 (invoice) delete option.

Jay

 

[coopermine]

Well, we just completed a road trip to NYC and back to Cleveland in our 'Clave. For the first 500 miles we crawled at <56 mph and got ~26 mpg. Not bad, but we don't drive that way. (Does anyone?) Nevertheless, I'm confident we "broke it in" as the manual suggested. On the way home yesterday we did our usual 72 mph on I-80 and got 22.1 mpg. Not bad too, and right on the epa estimate. :thumb:

In another post: the terrific OnStar turn-by-turn feature.

Jay

Dang! I missed the oppurtunity of seeing my first Enclave on road!