FC Member Blog

Alain Alireza Assemi

BY Alireza Assemi Alain Alireza Assemi | 10-29-2009 | 7:35 AM

This blog is written by a member of our blogging community and expresses that member's views alone.

Volkswagen CC VR6 4Motion Comfort

The two rear bucket seats are nearly as well-sculpted and
comfortable. Legroom is also excellent, with our tallest editor capable
of sitting behind his own fully pushed-back front seat. Because of the
sloped roof line, headroom is a different matter. That same tall editor
had to slouch down a bit in order for his head not to touch the
headliner, but it's actually not much worse than many competitor
midsize sedans.

The bigger concern is the lack of a center position in the backseat — a bin and cupholder take its place.

Alan Assemi

Mazda MAZDA6 Performance

With EPA fuel economy estimates of 17 mpg city/25 highway and 20
combined, the 2009 Mazda Mazda6 is about as thirsty as they get in this
segment. We observed an even 20 mpg, not bad considering that our shoes
are encased in lead.

Alain Assemi
Ford Escape Hybrid

Performance

Sadly, braking hardware goes the other way. Inexplicably, this year
Ford swapped out the Escape Hybrid's rear discs for drums. Our 60-0-mph
braking test of a 2008 Mercury Mariner resulted in a 138-foot distance,
which is about 10 feet longer than we'd like. And that was with the
rear discs, so we imagine with drums back there it's only going to be
longer. If we were calling the shots at Ford, we would've fitted this
ute with beefy discs all around.