It has been nearly seven months since I bought my Speed3. Sadly the purchase was made during out winter of ice, snow, ice, snow, and FREEZING temperatures. Having a new car that sits low to the ground when the roads are salted nearly every day for a month was not what I was hoping for!

But the winter is gone. Sad to say the precipitation is not. I never recall a spring with as much rain as we’ve had this year. So far the car has been good in it all.

My first day driving it, I tried to back-up and turn around at the neighbor’s house to drop my son off. We just had about 2″ of light snow, and I got stuck. I got out, but that was my first lesson in you-don’t-own-a-four-wheel-drive-anymore lessons. I quickly learned to turn-around on flat spots. Performance rated summer tires on snow are not ideal.

I have turned over 12,000 miles now, and my average fuel economy is now 28.1 MPG! If I didn’t have to drive through Xenia on the way to work every day, my average would be much higher, but I hit about 8 traffic lights through town, and have about 12 miles of 25-35 MPH speeds to contend with.

This spring, we took the little car that my wife and kids have named “Elmo” (since it is red and has bright headlights/eyes). It is a fun car, so I don’t mind it. Anyhow, Rachel, Katie, James, me, and a week’s worth of clothes packed into the car for spring break just outside Savannah, GA. We averaged 34 MPG at 70 MPH (posted speed in KY-GA)! It was tight, but it was fun and we used much less gas than the previous year when we took our Chevrolet 2500 HD non-diesel truck. It averages 12 MPG. Ugh.

The 260 horsepower 4 cylinder is crazy quick, and is definitely my fix for not having a sport bike anymore. My wife likes that it has 4 wheels not 2 since diabetes, low blood sugars, and motorcycles don’t go well together. So sad. I have always be such a safe rider, and a disease ruined my careful nature.

I just washed the Speed by hand two nights ago. Just no time, and it is always raining. I do like it.