While not a car that has generated widespread interest at CL, several of you have asked about it, and I received a couple of requests to review it, so with a day off of work today of use-or-lose leave, here you go......my take on Hyundai's biggest, newest, and supposedly best vehicle.

Azeras are just arriving at dealerships as we speak, and I tested one of the first ones in this area. In fact, there were only two at the dealership I was at that were ready to go....the others had not even been PDI'ed yet.

Hyundai is introducing this car for three basic reasons; First, to compete directly with the almost-new Toyota Avalon, which is less than a year old, and the also-new Buick Lucerne ( two cars I have already reviewed and posted here on CL ) , Second, to replace the aging and rather slow-selling XG350 flagship which, while a good car, was never terrifically popular in the American market, and Third, to increase its already rapidly-growing image and sales in the U.S. even more.

OK....so much for the car's history and marketing. What is the car itself like? Does it meet its objectives? Let's get to that..............


Model Reviewed: 2006 Hyundai Azera Limited

Base price: $26,335 ( the lower-priced trim lines start under 25K )
MSRP: $29,995

Drivetrain: FWD 3.8L V6 263 HP, 255 ft.-lbs. of torque. 5-speed automatic with manually controlled Sportshift.


PLUSSES

The best Korean-designed drivetrain yet....head and shoulders above any previous Hyundai / Kia product.

Solid, well-constructed body with solid-fitting and solid-feeling doors.

Well-applied paint.

Slick, solid-feeling, well-designed controls, gauges, and readouts.

Plenty of room for tall people.

Long 10 / 100 Drivetrain and 5 / 60 bumper-to-bumper warranties.

Price lower than similiarly-equipped competitors....for comparable quality.

Good fit-and-finish inside and out.

Good ride-handling compromise.

Low-pressure dealerships in most locations.

Aisan, Korea assembly plant eliminates the question of the new and untested Alabama plant for Sonatas.



MINUSES:

Unknown and questionable resale value...a traditional Hyundai weak point.

Hyundai 5W-20 oil recommendation questionable in hot weather.

Too much road noise for a luxury car.

Overboosted ( for my tastes ) power steering.

Shallow trunk from drop-down rear styling

Rather poor interior color-coordination.




OK.....the first impression of this car that you get when you walk up to it is that Hyundai wasn't kidding when the marketers said it was aimed at the Avalon. This car, looks-wise, is an almost carbon copy of the Avalon Limited, body and interior both. The dash, wood-trim lines, console, leather colors, steering wheel, and many other features inside are very similiar between the two cars, and somewhat different from the Buick Lucerne's. Quality-wise, I would rate the Azera's interior the best of the three. All four doors shut with a solid, rattle-free, precise thud and fit the body like a glove. It has IMO the best dash gauges of the three, best and slickest-feeling controls, and the best-quality wood trim by a big margin. The clear and well-designed gauges have Lexus-style white electroluminescent backlighting and Acura-style red pointers and blue rings. The odometer is below the gauges on a yellowish-orange electronic background with grayish-black digital numbers. The steering wheel ( with good-looking and feeling wood inspite of its polished surface ) has power tilting and telescoping....but it only goes up barely high enough for my tastes even at the full-up position. There is plenty of head and legroom for a tall, broad person like me, and the back seat likewise, while not a limo, also has a reasonable amount of room for adults. The seats, while having the usual slipperiness of leather, are reasonably supportive for a luxury car, and come standard with five-stage front heaters. Also typical of straight-luxury cars, the parking brake is a left-foot operated pedal. The only things about the interior I did not like ( like in the cheaper Sonata, which I have also reviewed ) were, First, the cheap-looking matte-silver paint on the door-handles and rocker-switch locks, and, Second, the tendency to have vast stretches of either plain black or beige-color trim without a whole lot to break it up....a problem also shared with the Avalon, which this car obviously copies. The beige interior has dark-brown color polished wood strips while the black ( charcoal ) interior has light-brown color wood trim. The trunk, due to the sloped trunkline, is not overly generous, and a little on the shallow side....but should carry most basically needed things unless you want to use the car as a moving van.
There is ( as yet ) no Touring model like with the Avalon where you get brushed-metal trim instead of wood, though the console trim is a handsome combination of wood and brushed-metal. Still, I would pick this car over the Avalon, interior-wise.....that was one of the things where the Avalon did not impress me at all.

On the road, the biggest surprise was under the hood. This is, without a doubt, the best and the most well-engineered Korean-designed drivetrain I have ever seen. Though the 3.8L V6's numbers on paper fall a little short of the Avalon's 280 HP and 260 ft.-lbs of torque, punch it at low speeds and the Azera's drive train actually, by the seat of my pants, feels more responsive. Perhaps due to the way that the engineers have set up the engine's torque curve and transmission gearing, the V6 gives you a nice shove in the back as the 5-speed automatic instantly, smoothly but firmly shifts down to just the right gear and then just as smoothly and firmly shifts back up again. Not only is this drive train smooth and responsive but quiet as well. Engine noise is very low and transmission noise is virtually nil. Hyundai has been promising better drive trains for some time and with this car has truly delivered. Well-done, Hyundai.....the drivetrain gets five stars....the Avalon's four.

Brakes, while not up to Porsche 911 standards, are smooth, quiet, responsive, and effective. You don't expect Brembos on a car like this, but for all normal driving they are just fine.

The only thing in the drive train which concerns me.....and only time will tell on this.....is Hyundai's recommended use of 5W-20 oil, which is quite thin and of low viscosity. While this, of course, helps get oil pressure up quickly on cold starts and prevents cold-temperature engine wear, it also compromises engine protection at high summer temperatures. But.....if the engine wears out prematurely and Hyundai has to start replacing them during that long 10-year drive train warranty, of course, that will be on them....not the car's owner. And I'm sure the Hyundai engineers know that this is their best drive train to date....I guess we'll just have to take their word for it they they won't put in garbage oil to lubricate it.

Unfortunately, this newly-found drive train refinement has been accomplished at the expense of some refinement in the chassis and sound insulation. There is, IMO, too much road noise for a luxury car, and wind noise is low but noticeable. Bumps in the road can be both heard and felt....though the ride is not what I would call stiff. The general balance of ride and handling is a pretty good one, with responsive but somewhat over-boosted steering for my tastes. However, considering that this is a front-drive luxury car and not meant to be a hard-edged sports car, the ride-handling combo is a pretty good one.

So...the verdict? IMO, Hyundai has produced what in some ways is a better Avalon, for slightly less money, and a MUCH better Buick Lucerne. ( sorry, Mr. Lutz ). Prices have increased slightly over the car it replaces, the XG350, but IMO are well-worth it. The Avalon, however, still has some advantages. It has proven reliability, first-class Camry-based engineering, a more solid history of higher resale values, a quieter ride, and a slightly better paint job. Hyundai's overall reliability and quality levels have increased enormously since the mid-late 1990's, but unlike Hyundai, Toyota's in most cases were never poor to start with. The Lucerne likewise has a quieter ride and a smooth transmission but the interior quality and materials are a joke, and the Lucerne's push rod V6 is ancient and agricultural compared to the Azera's.

Hyundai clearly here has a car with the potential to have a real winner. Leave the drive train alone.....it is just fine as it is, work on the under body sound insulation and window sealing a little, give the interior a little more wood and contrasting trim to break up the big solid expanses of plain color, give the power steering a little more firmness and road feel .......and a lot of heads in the luxury-car business are going to turn....especially for the Azera's 30K and under price. And as the word gets out even more about more about better-built Hyundais, the traditional low resale values should improve too.

This vehicle, of course, has become one of the media's glamour vehicles and currently is quite popular with Hollywood celebrities, Rap singers, and professional athletes. The basic design, of course, is nothing out of the ordinary. It is built on the same platform as, and is simply a redone version of, the Chevrolet / GMC full-size pickup and SUV platform, which has spawed the Tahoe / Suburban / Avalanche, Yukon and XL, Silverado / Sierra, and of course, other versions of the Escalade...the 2WD, ESV, and EXT.
This is not a cheap ride, and spending this kind of money for one's vehicle is not something to be taken lightly. There are some important things, though, both good and bad, that you need to know about this vehicle before you shake hands with the salesperson and sign on the dotted line.

So....lets' get to some of those things...........................

http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/...model=escalade

Model reviewed: 2006 Cadillac Escalade AWD
Base price $57,280
MSRP $60,770

Drivetrain: 6.0L V8, 345 HP, 380 ft.-lbs. torque, 4-speed automatic with tow/haul mode, full-time AWD.




PLUSSES

Plenty of towing and carrying power....up to 8100 lb. trailer weight with the AWD version.

Hulk Hogan chassis.......body-on-frame construction derived from Chevrolet trucks

Seamless, inobtrusive AWD.

Solid, heavy doors.

Versatile, well-equipped interior with foldaway second-row and folding, removable third-row seats.

Full set of engine and transmission gauges

Two different 17" and four different 20" wheels available from Cadillac.

Plenty of room inside, with a high roofline.

Low noise level.

Smooth ride over small bumps, especially by truck standards.

4 / 50 warranty better than most other GM products.



MINUSES:

Lousy, poorly designed Push-and Pray brakes

Glitzy, luxurious-looking interior, but very cheap materials.

Slippery, leather, captain's chair-style front seats.

Welcome-to-the-Morgue paint colors.

Mediocre paint job for a $60,000 vehicle.

Interior creaks and minor rattles.

Porpoising fore-and-aft motions typical of large, high-center-of-gravity SUV's.

Overboosted power steering.


The first impression you get of this vehicle, as you approach it, is exactly what it in fact is, despite the big, chrome grille and Cadillac headlights ........a redone Chevy Tahoe / GMC Denali for more money. Walk around it, look at the paint, open and shut the big, heavy doors, feel the hardware and trim, and this vehicle simply screams GM all over. Climb inside and you are greeted with a nice, rich-looking interior on the surface, but, with the exception of the real-wood and leather steering wheel which looks and feels nice and the nice, detailed, chrome-ringed gauges, is just cheap GM plastic with a little glitz added to it. Almost everything inside except the steering wheel and the solid seat anchors, IMO feels like it came from Wal-Marts.The dash, though, like most GM trucks, does have a nice, full-set of engine gauges and a transmission-temperature gauge for towing....some nice touches. As befits a $60,000 people-mover, though, there is a lot of comfort, convienence, and entertainment equipment inside, too much for me to go into detail here on every single item....you will spend a long time with this vehicle going through the Owners' Manual and learning all the systems.

On the road, the 6.0L V8, with its 380 ft. lbs. of torque, will move this vehicle, which weighs the better part of three tons, easily and without any problems. The AWD system lacks a low-range transfer case for serious off-roading but operates continuously and does not need any driver input, as of course befits a luxury SUV. The ride, as also befits a luxury SUV, is quiet and smooth over small bumps.....perhaps the smoothest-riding SUV I have ever driven, even more so that the Lincoln Navigator. The suspension just glides right over small bumps with a muted distant thud, but there is some fore-and-aft porpoising motion, which is common on large, high-center of-gravity SUV's. I also detected it in the Navigator last time I drove one. Handling, as expected, shows sharp body lean and understeer, with what is IMO overboosted power steering.

Obviously, this is no economy car. With this vehicle's weight and power level you are talking some serious gas bills, too....on premium gas. Depending on what gas runs in your area, you are talking anywhere from $60 to $90 for a fill-up, with mileage in the low teens the majority of the time....lower than that when towing a heavy trailer.

One good feature of the interior is the versatility and the way that the second-row seats fold back up against the backs of the front two Captains' chairs. The third-row seats, which are best suited for children or small adults, offer a choice of folding up against the second-row seats to expand the cargo area even more, or they can be unlatched and taken completely out of the vehicle.

Now.....I want to get to what I consider this vehicles's hands-down worst feature....the brakes. Folks, trust me.....this is no Porsche 911 in the brake-pedal department. GM has a history of brake problems in virtually all of its full-sized truck-based vehicles, and this one ( still ) is no exception. The feel in the brake pedal of this vehicle was almost identical to my former boss's 2003 Suburban when he bought it new and I checked it out for him...excessively spongy, long stopping distances, and very little reaction when you push on it. It is very important, for anyone contemplating a purchase of this vehicle, to check the brakes thouroughly when test-driving and see if he / she feels safe in it. I found ( just like with other similiar GM trucks ) that I had to leave plenty of room in front of me to get stopped...if you tail gate other vehicles you are probably going to rear-end them. This vehicle just does not slow down with any authority when you push the pedal.....even when you really stomp on it...and I have some pretty big, heavy well-muscled legs.

IMO GM needs to do a major redesign of the braking system on all of their large truck-based vehicles. Although I am not an engineer, it feels to me like a combination of inadquate power assist combined with too-small a master cylinder, too-small wheel cylinders, and not enough brake-pad-swept area on the rotors. I am also concerned about what kind of reserve stopping power the brakes will have towing a heavy trailer and adding even more to the vehicle's load.

So.....my verdict. This is a big, heavy, expensive, powerful, gas-guzzling truck-based SUV that offers a smooth, quiet ride by truck standards, plenty of towing capability, interior room and comfort, and luxury on the surface.....but with cheap-quality materials under that glitz, so-so build quality, and poorly designed brakes. If you don't have a lot of traffic in your area where you will be using the brakes all of the time, and if you can stand the Sponge-O-Matic feel of the pedal and lack of reaction, then consider one for a purchase. My honest opinion, though, is that there are better large SUV's on the market for this kind of money.....the Toyota Land Cruiser and Lexus LX470 being two of them even though they don't have the Escalade's huge frame or towing capacity.