Archive for the ‘2009’ Category

This week, as we've sifted through TheCarConnection.com's email for your questions, we've found an interesting one concerning Bluetooth connectivity. We're big users of the hands-free frequency, though we do advocate that you make all calls from a parked car, not a moving one.

We're also experienced in setting up difficult and easy Bluetooth connections, from the simple-as-pie 2010 Kia Soul to the occasionally cranky Ford SYNC system. From our hands-on testing of nearly 300 cars a year, we can confirm what a reader from Virginia's found out--that Bluetooth isn't the universal connection it's cracked up to be.

Harris Miller writes:

My wife...

A few times each week, TheCarConnection reaches into our mail bag to answer car questions and offer advice our readers can't find anywhere else. Today's question comes to us from North Carolina, from a reader who wants to know if he can get his babies on board in the new big Bimmer:

I enjoyed your review of the 2009 BMW 7-Series.  I have three small children, all in booster seats--will three booster seats fit in the back seat of the 7-Series?

We contacted BMW's public-relations department for a final word. According to them, it seems that three boosters should fit in the back of the new 7-Series without a problem.  BMW USA's safety director...

The low-riding, mean-looking, top-of-the-line Chrysler 300C SRT8 feels like a mature high-performance luxury sedan—big 6.1-liter V-8 under the hood; rich-sounding audio system inside, backed up when you need it by a punchy Kicker sub in the trunk; and classy, supple black leather seats with grippy, ventilated suede inserts.

Seems about the most refined and adult you can get without a walnut-trimmed drinks cabinet, cigar case, and Jeeves, right?

How about [drum roll] satellite TV entertainment?

Just when it seemed to good to be true, it was. You see, all that would tune in inside this sophisticated, high-performance, very adult sedan...