Concern

I drove my new car to work today, for the first time. This is a 37-mile haul from Santa Cruz, over the notorious highway 17, then up state route 85 into Sunnyvale. My first impressions follow.

• The clutch is nice; it doesn’t feel too hard, and it’s not squishy. It’s really comfortable to use in traffic.
• The car feels more comfortable at a higher RPM than my old car; most gears felt right between 2000-2500 RPM, on this it’s more like 2500-3000. I was trying to keep my same shifting pattern per RPM, but in most gears that feels too low. I found myself getting up to fifth at only about 60 mph.
• Gas mileage. The display can be configured to display the mileage you’re getting on the current trip, and going to work (very light traffic) I got 31 mpg. Coming home (stop-and-go on 85; pretty clear on 17) I got 27. I think I’ll hit my goal of not needing to fill up twice a week
• It’s a really quiet engine.
• The interior is roomy, and the leather seats are great.
• The suspension feels a bit stiffer. Our crappy California highways had me bouncing a little.
• The brakes are a little sticky, but it is brand new.
• I can’t seem to get the Sirius radio to activate.
• I drove lightly today, because I need to break the car in, but I did push it a little to see how the turbo does. That’s awesome; accelerating is pretty great.