Passing power on the highway and hills?

[Stodge]

Does the Kizashi have enough power on the highway for passing and also in hilly areas? I'm just curious as we're planning a rad trip to the east coast in whatever our new car will be and I wonder how it would perform with two adults, one child and some luggage.

[DelliReeus]

Hell yeah it does.. I have a Kizashi & it's really fast uphills since it's cvt & it is fast overall for the price imo

[EnfinityX]

the only place i would say the kiz lacks power is when starting from a standstill. when passing at highway or local speeds there is more than enough power.

[kizashi_VA]

Power is adequate. Especially if you have the AWD, back wheels will kick in provide more power in wet and snowy hill. Kizashi also has uphill/downhill assist, which means you car won't slide down when you let go of the brake pedal from stop. The computer will hold the brake for 2 seconds(or 3 not sure)or till you press the gas pedal. This works very well at some hills that have stop lights which there r many in my area.(I live in east coast) The guy behind you will thank you for not rolling back down.

[tigerbangs54]

While thew Kizashi is adequate from a standing start, it is a mini-rocket once it is revved. I suspect that the transmission-engine combination has been torque-limited during a standing start to protect the CVT, but make no mistake about it, this little sucker sling-shots and highway speeds. I use the manual feature to avoid pinning the engine to it's redline during passing maneuvers, but, in the hills north and west of here, the car really comes alive. I have the SE with AWD, and am always amazed at how much power and torque it has in the hills, but you can't be afraid to lay into the throttle to get at it. I find that the Kizashi has a long-travel accelerator, and it's response is fairly lazy in the first couple of inches of pedal travel. It makes for smooth acceleration, but you need to dig in sharply to get at the engine's power.

[Firefly]

I agree with all the above. I live at the top of the palisades on the Jersey side, and bring a fully loaded car up the steeper roads from river-level is a breeze. I pass on the highway with confidence.