I think you guys need to go there to actually discern the distance from the 133/405.
Interestingly enough, the area closer to the 405, Siena and San Remo seemed the quietest because they were higher up from the 133.
The homes in Cortona that back the 133 have the most noise and I feel bad for anyone spending $9xx+ there because you can hear it in the backyard and moreso on the 2nd floor. As much noise as there is from vehicles traveling at 50+ mph... also imagine the starting and stopping of those vehicles because of the light.
But noise aside, I was really surprised how nice the area is. When you're on the detached condo side, you really feel isolated from everything and you have great views 360 of hills etc. The landscaping is really good as it feels upscale. It's lame they cut down the number of parks/pools as the detached condos are very far from the main park but at least the secondary park with the bball court is close by. It's interesting for these tracts as they are kind of walled in by each area so it's almost like they have double walls... the primary streets are basically wall one one side and berm on the other.
As for the homes, if you've been to Stonegate/SGE/San Marino in Woodbury... you've seen these. There are slight changes in the detached condos but Cortona got the most where they addressed my main complaint about Maricopa, additional upstairs living space. I think people should really complain that Stonegate should get the same floorplans as they are much more functional.
If you compare Portisol in QH (same price range) to Cortona, Cortona wins for the more spacious floorplans but Portisol has better locations and cul-de-sac streets. Bang for the buck, if I had $1m+ to spend, I would wait for a Tapestry in QH over Cortona, but that Cortona Plan 2 is really nice.
I have to admit... the siren call of the new home smell and the location (I prefer living in the 405 area of Irvine) had me wondering if I could settle for a detached San Remo condo... it's just not really a move up from our current home other than the location (and we lose a driveway, an upstairs laundry sink and additional living spaces). What makes it worse is you're looking at $100k more in price and double the HOA over the same floorplans in Stonegate ($200k more for Cortona over Maricopa). MRs are almost the same (which was suprising) but taxes overall will be more because of the price.
I really think TIC could have spare 4 lots of homes in between San Remo and Siena to give that area its own inside tract park... even a little bit more for a pool ala Woodbury. Considering how much of a premium they are charging... it would have been nice to have that extra area. Think about it... all those homes only share one pool. How many other newer places in Irvine are like that?
It was really crowded... we didn't go until after 3pm hoping to avoid the early rush but there was a steady flow even at that time. And it was way more mixed than Woodbury/Stonegate was. I guess elevated homes "near" Laguna Beach ends up with a better diversity of interest.
Other than the SFRs that immediately back the 133... you really don't notice it but you should check it our yourself. It does make me favor being above a main road than below one like at Las Ventanas.