What I drove: Yawn

I have driven three vehicles that I've yet to post "What I drove" entries about. The biggest reason is that none of them was all that interesting -- two pickups and a cute ute. The first pickup from three weeks ago was the Dodge Ram. They're touting it as all new for 2009, and it has new features, but I drove a 2008 last summer and it was fun. The salesman took me off road and was such a character, I ending up writing one of my best test drives (even my editor said so). I guess that was just too hard to live up to. I'm sure the test drive story was fine and the truck is nice -- as far as full-size pickups go, I just couldn't get excited about it.

Next up was the 2010 Mercedes-Benz GLK 350. It's Merc's small SUV. I think I have a hard time getting excited about SUVs because there are two sitting in my garage right now. Granted, neither have nav or heated seats or a sunroof, but they get me where I need to go -- and for a fraction of the GLK's $45,000 price tag. Yeah, it was nice. But when a car costs more than the first house I bought, it had better be nice. Loaded with extras, it was a fun drive mainly because I got to play with the navigation system and stereo. And heated seats are always nice. My biggest pet peeve with Mercedes-Benz is where they put the cruise control. It's right where you expect the turn signal to be. And even though the salesman says you get used to it, I hit that darn thing every time I drive a Mercedes.

Finally, publishing today, is my test drive for the Suzuki Equator. It's a small pickup that looks almost exactly like the Nissan Frontier (apparently it's built on the same platform). My initial reaction was the Frontier was interesting when it came out -- nine years ago. Today, it's just another truck. If you're a big Suzuki fan, this would be a great truck for you. You can haul all your Suzuki toys around with it. There was nothing horribly wrong with the truck -- although the back end did seem to bounce around a lot on bumpy roads in town -- it was just boring.

Am I jaded from doing two months of test drives nonstop? I don't think so. I still get excited about the new cars. I still find the best thing about every vehicle I drive (quite a feat with some). And I still get a little thrill when I see my byline and tell people I do test drives. I think I just hit a bit of a rut with these three vehicles. If a car had been thrown in there maybe. Not long ago, I drove a Hyundai Sonata and a Mazda3. I wouldn't call either of those cars especially exciting, but they both piqued my interest more than the three I drove recently.