Just wanted to share with everyone a fabulous driving trip my wife, dog and I took the last couple of weeks.
We started from home, drove to Ottawa. Stayed a couple of nights. Started the next phase down throught to Syracuse and on I90 over to and on up through Maine to Portland. A night there then on up to PEI for a few nights.
Then off to Cape Breton for a couple of more nights, back down to Bangor, ME, then over to Albany NY then up home through Niagara Falls.
I must say the CX-9 is the best car/vehicle I have ever driven! It was such a pleasure to drive every step of the way! Smooth, comfortable, quiet. I averaged just under 28 mpg (CDN), which works out to about 22.5 mpg (US) I believe. Kept to about 10 miles over the speed limit max. Can't stand all the toll booths, though. I mean I had to pay $.80 for one. Not much sense to me.
I installed a new HID fog light kit (from Ignited HID - 6K) and replacement HID bulbs (6K) for the main lights just before I left. Man, do they ever look great! The new fogs are really bright right in front of the car, and the new 6K mains match them exactly.
The Sirrius radio (6 months free) was wonderful on this long trip as you always have music. Don't use it so much local driving though.
I found the Nav system lacking in a couple of areas. For one, my own street I live on is spelled wrong! In New Brunswick, a whole part of the Trans-Canada Hwy #2 wasn't mapped correctly. The map was still pointing to it's old location. In P.E.I., after I got off the main hwy, the Nav couldn't talk to me any more, just point to where I should be going. Other than that, it worked pretty good, and I made good use of way points.
I think having nitrogen in the tires is really good on long trips - the tire pressure stays constant and there's no worry about them. When I got back I had my first oil change and the tires rotated too. I have now switched to synthetic oil and will continue to use that from now on. I think I'm going to settle on Penzoil Platinum in the future seems to have the best rating/reviews.
It was nice to see gas in the US cheaper than Canada, even with the exchange.
We never had the rear seats up, and there sure is a lot of room back there for a long trip with all the luggage and a plug-in cooler. Nice to see that the rear outlet works even without the car turned on. Great when popping in for a meal or shopping - everything stays cool.
Well, that's all for now. Later.
P.S. I have attached a pic from the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. I do some of the Cabot Trail every time I'm there. It's one of the most beautiful drives in the world!
We started from home, drove to Ottawa. Stayed a couple of nights. Started the next phase down throught to Syracuse and on I90 over to and on up through Maine to Portland. A night there then on up to PEI for a few nights.
Then off to Cape Breton for a couple of more nights, back down to Bangor, ME, then over to Albany NY then up home through Niagara Falls.
I must say the CX-9 is the best car/vehicle I have ever driven! It was such a pleasure to drive every step of the way! Smooth, comfortable, quiet. I averaged just under 28 mpg (CDN), which works out to about 22.5 mpg (US) I believe. Kept to about 10 miles over the speed limit max. Can't stand all the toll booths, though. I mean I had to pay $.80 for one. Not much sense to me.
I installed a new HID fog light kit (from Ignited HID - 6K) and replacement HID bulbs (6K) for the main lights just before I left. Man, do they ever look great! The new fogs are really bright right in front of the car, and the new 6K mains match them exactly.
The Sirrius radio (6 months free) was wonderful on this long trip as you always have music. Don't use it so much local driving though.
I found the Nav system lacking in a couple of areas. For one, my own street I live on is spelled wrong! In New Brunswick, a whole part of the Trans-Canada Hwy #2 wasn't mapped correctly. The map was still pointing to it's old location. In P.E.I., after I got off the main hwy, the Nav couldn't talk to me any more, just point to where I should be going. Other than that, it worked pretty good, and I made good use of way points.
I think having nitrogen in the tires is really good on long trips - the tire pressure stays constant and there's no worry about them. When I got back I had my first oil change and the tires rotated too. I have now switched to synthetic oil and will continue to use that from now on. I think I'm going to settle on Penzoil Platinum in the future seems to have the best rating/reviews.
It was nice to see gas in the US cheaper than Canada, even with the exchange.
We never had the rear seats up, and there sure is a lot of room back there for a long trip with all the luggage and a plug-in cooler. Nice to see that the rear outlet works even without the car turned on. Great when popping in for a meal or shopping - everything stays cool.
Well, that's all for now. Later.
P.S. I have attached a pic from the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. I do some of the Cabot Trail every time I'm there. It's one of the most beautiful drives in the world!
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