Sunday Drive
This week saw us loading up a new 2020 Honda Ridgeline for a Saturday adventure that would lead us down into Juab and Millard counties to see some awesome Central Utah sites.
We had heard of a new hike we wanted to take at a location known as Paul Bunyan’s Wood Pile that is located on Highway 6 just south of the Little Sahara Sand Dunes turn off.
So off we drove all snug inside one of our favorite small trucks the Honda Ridgeline for the 55 mile trip. This year Honda has freshened up the Ridgeline adding a new 9 speed transmission along with making their Honda Sensing system standard on all models.
This is a huge step as we have always been enthralled with this sensing system ever since we first saw it in 2015 in an Acura TLX. Back then the fact that a vehicle could keep you centered in the lane of travel was so awesome, and now Honda seems to have taken that technology to a new level with their safety sensing system.
The system not only comes with Hondas great Lane Keep Assist, but they have also added a Collision Mitigation Braking System, Forward Collision Warning, which we found works very well, Road Departure Mitigation, Lane Departure Warning and Adaptive Cruise Control.
All of these systems worked exceptionally well, pretty much making the Ridgeline act almost like a completely autonomous driving vehicle. About the only time it got somewhat confused was when we hit a stretch of narrow road and the painted line on the right-hand side disappeared for a short distance.
The drive to the Woodpile required a short trip on a dirt road, one that any vehicle could negotiate and the Ridgeline did a fantastic job, although this would not be the last trip on dirt for the day!
Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile turned out to be as impressive as the photos we had seen online. It requires a short somewhat moderate hike to get to the bottom and a more vigorous uphill climb if you want to see it from above, and in fact looks just like a pile of square logs that are about to fall over set into the mountain landscape.
This really is a hidden gem in Central Utah, and well worth the trip to Juab County to see, the turn off to the dirt road is not well marked so be careful to look closely for it if you choose to take this adventure.
After that it was on to Delta, Utah for a quick break and some road trip goodies, along US 6 we saw a sign indicating that Topaz Mountain was only 36 miles away. Since we didn’t know exactly what Topaz Mountain was, a quick look at Google told us it was a great place to find Utah’s gemstone, so off we headed for a longer adventure in the Ridgeline.
Inside the updated Honda proved to be just as luxurious as any of the new trucks we have driven. The seats were leather clad and heated of course along with the steering wheel, which helped to make the early April morning commutes even better.
Navigation was standard on the RTL that helped us find our way out to Topaz Mountain as it did require a short 10 mile ride on dirt roads to get there. This time we were glad to have a small AWD truck as parts of the road proved to be more rocky and uneven that we would have been comfortable trying in just any vehicle.
Turns out that there is a private part of Topaz Mountain that is actually on a mineral claim where they blast off the rock and charge folks to look for the Topaz. We met Ronda Stemmons who owns the claim and she was more than excited to tell us all about how they mined the amber crystals and how the stones changed to clear with exposure to the sun.
She even gave us some of our own Topaz to take home after our 45 minute lesson on mining in western Utah. We then needed a place to partake of our lunch we had brought along with us, so it was off further into the dessert to find a spot suitable to park the small truck and eat in the bed.
After a short search we pulled off road into a small clearing amongst the Pinon pines and put everything in the bed of the Ridgeline ready for a tasty lunch in the dessert. The truck also comes complete with a truck bed sound system that would pump the satellite radio out back so we could enjoy it during lunch.
This was a fine addition and would make tailgating even that much better with the addition of the sound system that took no forethought to get ready. There is also a great tub in the back of the bed that could be loaded with ice and drinks, or of course just a place for tools. Although the designers have included a stop in the bottom that would drain the water when done.
The Ridgeline comes with a 3.5 liter V6 engine with 280 horsepower and 262 ft.-lbs. of torque. It also has a class leading payload capacity of 1584 pounds in the bed, and when equipped with AWD will tow up to 5000 pounds.
As we proved, the Ridgeline would be the perfect weekend vehicle for any family that wants to get out into the great outdoors. After a week and a really awesome Saturday we managed a very nice 22 mpg in the Ridgeline.
See the newly refreshed Honda Ridgeline that proved to be great on weekends and really any other day of the week, making for the perfect family hauler, mover and daily driver.
Base Price $42,020
Price As Driven: $43,140
Sunday Drive
The all new Mercedes GLB250 comes to the market at just the right time, as Mercedes jumps in with a mid-sized SUV at a cost that makes owning one a reality for many.
We were very impressed with the sticker that was emailed to us, before the vehicle arrived that indicated that the base price of our test ride would only be $38,600. There are many midsized SUVs that would fit into that slot on the market right now, and maybe this is a slightly higher price, but would others come with the luxury and engineering that is synonymous with the Mercedes name?
This new offering from the German company may not have the looks of what is now considered a hot hatch, having of course a very refined and dignified look from the outside. In fact it put forth more of a statement that said, hey, I am a Mercedes and will get my family through thick and thin no matter what, and will do that with a certain amount of style all my own.
We found after a week with the nimble smaller SUV, that we began looking forward each day to the drive and great manners that came with the GLB package. However, there was power a plenty hiding in the smaller package along with plenty of room for extra stuff in the back.
Under the hood is a 2.0 liter four cylinder inline turbocharged engine that produces a whopping 221 horsepower and even better than that 258 ft.-lbs. of torque. This subtle little engine will push the new SUV to 60 in just 6.9 seconds.
Up front this may not seem like a great feat, but trust us after a week of motoring around happy valley Utah, there turned out to be way more than one occasion that it would put us back into our seats as we bolted into traffic with ease.
So maybe not a hot hatch on the outside but for a mom or just empty nesters like ourselves it got the job done with pizazz, and didn’t attract all the attention that may come with the competition.
The folks at Mercedes have even added the option of a third row of seats that would give the growing family man different options to step up into the luxury SUV world and still have room for some growth. Our test ride only had two rows of seats but on a trip to Costco there was plenty of room in the rear for what turned out to be a pretty good load of stuff, and we didn’t have to lower the second row.
Even with a couple of kids on board there would be plenty of room in the back for all the gear along with mom making a shopping trip out of it also. The second row of seats are also adjustable both being able to recline and also move back and forth thus allowing for an extra six cubic feet of space in the rear, if needed. This would also allow for occupants in the third row of seating to have more leg room, if needed.
The SUV comes standard with leather seats all around, a power lift gate, something that we would consider a necessity in today’s busy world. Power seats, automatic braking assist, a seven-inch driving cluster and a seven-inch touch screen infotainment system.
Along with this, the designers have included one of our favorite new Mercedes additions in the standard package that of the new Mercedes Benz User Experience (MBUX). A system that understands basic language, maybe better known as the ‘Hey Mercedes’ system.
Just by saying the words ‘Hey Mercedes’ the system responds with ‘What do you need? ‘It is just like having a personal assistant on board to help along the drive. Changing radio, channels adjusting interior temperature, adding a navigation point all as easy as saying ‘Hey Mercedes change the radio to the Billy Joel Channel’ and away it goes.
We first saw this system a little over a year ago on a much pricier Mercedes and are glad to see the technology make it into an entry level design and as a standard feature. At first it may seem like a great entertainment addition but when in heavy traffic it becomes a life saver to help with the drive.
Unlike some voice activated systems, the ‘Hey Mercedes’ requires no push of a button and works with simple commands instead of having to navigate through many menus, that usually leaves us very frustrated and ready to give up and fumble with our phones for Siri’s assistance.
Our test ride did come with a couple of upgrades our favorite being that of the Premium Package ($1650) that upgraded the displays to 10.25 inches respectively, giving a continuous flow of LED screen from the driving display across to the infotainment system and in our book, bigger always seems to be better in this world.
Having all the gauges in a LED display is just a great feature, add this to that the fact that they could be adjusted in different ways for different drivers needs and how could it get any better? This package also added blind spot assist and power folding and heated mirrors.
Another awesome addition was the 64-color ambient lighting system for $310, well worth it as the interior lights could be adjusted to pretty much any color available for any mood we had during our driving experience. At night this was just a great way to stay relaxed on the ride home.
Even better that the lights was the fact that a quick ‘Hey Mercedes change the ambient lighting to blue’ was just that easy!
The all new Mercedes GLB250 would be a great addition for anyone to take the first step into the luxury SUV market. We had a great time with it for a week taking full advantage of all the added bonuses that came with it, and we completely fell for the Hey Mercedes option. Guess we just spend too much time with Siri and Alexa!
Base Price: 38,600
Price as Driven: $51,210
Sunday Drive
A week in early spring was perfect timing to have an opportunity to drive the new eighth generation Hyundai Sonata. The all-new sedan is Hyundai’s longest standing and most successful model and after a week we were completely impressed with the looks, design and technology.
On a Saturday in early April, we had the opportunity for a longer drive and headed down south on Highway 89 into Sanpete County eventually ending up in the Capitol Reef National Park area. We had hoped that we could do some hiking near Torrey, Utah, however most of the trails near the small town required us to head down an unpaved road, with a new sedan we did not think it prudent to follow that path.
We were convinced on the ride down that it would be next to impossible to come up with a similarly priced vehicle that could compete head-to-head with the new Sonata. The sedan was loaded with technology, LED screens, and safety features that we had only seen coming with $60,000 plus priced vehicles.
The day was perfect with crystal blue sky and temperatures heading in to the 60s so the 160 plus mile drive to the park was a complete joy with the Sonata taking over most of the heavy lifting. Equipped with a Highway Driving Assist package that would keep the new sedan centered in the lane and spaced appropriately from the vehicle in front of us, made it oh so easy!
The technology worked perfectly, even when the lane lines were hard for us to make out on some of the winding mountain roads we took to get there. For the short drive on I-70 at 80 mph it worked flawlessly as we only had to keep a hand on the steering wheel and an eye to the road as the Sonata would steer itself.
Our test ride came with the new smaller engine this year, a 1.6 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder power plant. We were a little skeptical at first of this smaller sized engine in a full sized sedan however it proved to be way more than we expected at 180 horsepower and 195 ft.-lb. of torque.
And after our day of 300 plus miles on mostly the backways of Utah we ended with a 37.5 mpg average, and a 36 mpg average for the week. This proved to be better than even the EPA would have expected as they put the Sonata at a 31 mpg combined total.
Another really awesome feature new to this year’s version is what Hyundai is calling a ‘Digital Key’. This system allows the owners to download a smartphone app that will become the key for their car. No longer does one need to carry a key, even in one’s pocket, with the app open and placing the smartphone within a few inches of the door handle the Sonata will open automatically.
This is accomplished through a technology called Near Field Communications and has proven to exhibit a great deal of security for those that think this may be a little over the top. The sedan will also start once this digital key is inside. It also allows the owner to assign digital keys to different people and can be geo-fenced so that person can only go certain places within the fence and can be revoked at any time.
Think of being able to stop your kids from driving to certain locations and also making sure they are home on time or their key will stop working, boy could we have used this kind of technology back in the day!
Standard the Limited Edition comes with a 12.3 inch digital instrument cluster which proved to be completely customizable to the driver and had a cool factor that was hard to describe. We have come to love a completely digital dash and have only seen it in much higher priced vehicles. Being able to arrange and give it a unique look gives us feeling of it’s our car, kind of like painting and designing one’s living space!
The infotainment screen is also a huge 10.25 inches across centered high in the dashboard making a quick glance very easy for the driver and can be split into two sections, one for navigation and the other for music, or other systems.
The system was tied to a new Bose CenterPoint surround sound stereo that would make sitting anywhere in the vehicle seem to the occupant that they were in the center of the concert. Audio and EQ settings were made automatically according to the speed we were traveling, enhancing the ride and giving us the best sound possible.
That of course was not the end of technology in the new Sonata as the Limited also came with a full color heads up display for the driver. With and image size of 8 full inches, and the fact it was customizable made it one of the most intuitive HUD’s we have used to date.
The interior ambient lighting was also customizable from a color pallet allowing the occupants to choose pretty much any color they would like for after dark driving. We loved this feature as it would really set the mood, and in the winter when the sun sets earlier could really add to keeping the owners happier no matter what the weather was like!
Outside the Sonata also has great lines getting an almost new coupe like appearance, it looked awesome in our driveway for the week getting many compliments from the neighbors. The new look is very distinct with the designers doing a great job of setting it apart for the Sonata of yesteryear.
The Hyundai Sonata turned out to be one of our favorite new models this year and for the price you can’t go wrong getting features that are mostly only found with much higher price tag. Our week and especially our Saturday drive was nothing but comfort and enjoyment at all times.
Base price: $33,300
Price as driven: $34,385