OT: Buying an SUV Options

[ninefourteener]

Greetings!!

I know I don't peek in too often anymore.... more of a Suby Junkie now. But I definately can't deny that the overall automotive knowledge is far greater on this site than any of the Suby sites. With that.... we're in Utah right now, and with the addition to our family (my Son), and the English Mastiff we bought as a family X-mas gift, with the long road trips we have planned, we need an SUV, and I'm having a hard time determining what we want to buy.

We've done a LOT of research, and both of us REALLY want to trade in my wife's Mazda 3 for a Tribeca, but they are about $3K out of our price range.

Last night, we went to look at an 06 Jeep Commander... I really liked it, the wife was a little worried about the size though... but you can't deny the price.

We want:

a 7-seater (3rd row seats)
4WD or AWD
a 6 cyl (gotta save as much gas as possible)
Under $22K
No more than 2 years old

The Jeep is a very feasable option... but we are looking for alternatives. We may go look at the Suzuki XL-7...... but I'm not sure I like it yet.

No minivans, no Korean cars.

Any suggestions? Thanks!!!

[TINCAN914]

Just a thought.
I don't know if you have any kids, as I skimmed the thread, but we bought a ford explorer a couple of years ago. We have two boys. When we went on extended family trips, we could barely get everything in there. In some cases we had to leave some things at home. We didn't strap anything to the roof though. Just something to think about.

[ninefourteener]

Minivans..... whew.

There's no doubt that they have the space, the mileage, and the convenience...

But..... It's a minivan.... I just can't do it... Neither can my wife.

A roof carrier is definately a future purchase.... that will allow the dogs in the back, the luggage on the roof, the kids in the back, and the 4WD for the snow. Not to mention a lot more comfort.

[jd74914]

Or kids on roof and luggage and dogs inside (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

[jaminM3]

I would go with a 2 year old 6cyl Grand Cherokee. 'O5 and newer is the newest body style. I went to Carmax to look at them and they had a few lease returns with 20K miles for like $17K for an '05.

I am definitely getting one once I unload my Cayenne.. too much $$$ I could be spending on sports cars.

[gopack]

Minivans..... whew.

There's no doubt that they have the space, the mileage, and the convenience...

But..... It's a minivan.... I just can't do it... Neither can my wife.

A roof carrier is definately a future purchase.... that will allow the dogs in the back, the luggage on the roof, the kids in the back, and the 4WD for the snow. Not to mention a lot more comfort.

Bear in mind that these things already have too high of a center of gravity. I would never consider putting any weight way up on the roof, because it is too top heavy already! I agree about minivans, but my pilot is basically an Odessy with bigger wheel and tires, and lifted a bit to look like an SUV. I found that it pulled the 914 on a rented UHaul trailer from Idaho to Wisconsin pretty well, and that was at about its tow limit of 3500lbs. got terrible gas mileage towing (12-15), but it is good for the occasional tow.

[Porcharu]

I think is was the V8 but I'm not sure, they were comparing it to and explorer so it probably was. It was worse than the Excursion! More like a Dumber H2. My parents have a new small Jeep with the smallest V8 and unloaded with driver only and carefully driven it cannot get more the 20 MPG on the highway. My 8500 pound truck gets 21 MPG full of people and stuff.
Steve

[andys]

I'll run a little something different by you to consider.

Full size van conversion; stay with me a second. You can get a very low mileage say Dodge van with capitans chairs, rear AC, fold down couch, TV/VCR/DVD for cheap, especially now days. Huge on comfort (capitans chairs are great), kids can do thier thing way in the back (head phones, etc) without bothering the driver. Tows great; the long wheelbase makes for a very stable platform, and they usually have big brakes, cooling system, etc. For $10K-12K or so, you can find them with 25K-35K miles on the odometer. Take the $15K that you save and buy a commuter car if you need. The difference in gas mileage vs. the up front cost savings can put an awful lot of gas into it before you ever reach the crossover point in cost. I bet the newer one's get 18-20 MPG highway.

I bought a used van conversion with 4,300 miles on it for $11K. Drove the heck out of it, towing boats, car trailers, etc, and it never left me in a bind. If you have a family you want to take on a vacation, it has few parallels. Just my opinion.

Andy

[sixgt]

Toyota Highlander should meet all of your requirements, gets great mileage with the V6, the 4 is even better. Available w/ the 3rd seat, FWD or AWD. Something to consider is if you plan to do a lot of heavy towing, a body on frame SUV is stronger in that the hitch is bolted to the frame rather than the unibody.

I had 2 Ford Explorer in the past. You can pick them up pretty cheap and cheap to own, and for the money you save, would more than make up for the difference in gas cost.

Garry

[ConeDodger]

I have a Supercharged 4Runner and I agree, the room is great. Mileage is 16 to 28 in two wheel drive and though I have not checked it isn't much worse in 4 wheel high.

I plan on selling it and getting a Chevrolet Tahoe as I need more grunt for the enclosed trailer I plan on getting. Although with the supercharger it doesn't care about the 21' trailer with a 914 on it or my old 22.5' boat. If anything it needed better brakes more than more grunt.

I would avoid anything Chrysler as in Jeep. For everyone who tells me how great theirs is, I can cancel that story with a horror story about reliability.

I bet your mastiff votes for biggest! Though they tend to be pretty sweet tempered animals that put up with anything they have to. My golden retriever loves the SUV. If I tried to get her into one of the cars she runs to the 4Runner and looks at me.

[Mr.C]

I went through the whole SUV debate lately too. Owning a Discovery and seeing my money go through the tank faster than a bad TJ Taco (sick for a week) has me thinking twice though. We finally settled on the Pilot or the Odyssey Touring.

Here's a decked out Armada. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/car/551380973.html

[boxstr]

Drove a Jeep SRT 8 for the weekend It is on my list of cars to own.
Craig C. Laughlin

[orthobiz]

DANGER
Under no circumstances should you get a VW Touareg

My 2003 has been to the dealer a number of times
Lots of things broke
Everything that's been fixed is breaking again, it
just won't stay fixed
13 mpg if I'm lucky

But, it's a world class vehicle that can get out of its own way in a hurry

When and if it's running right it's pretty sweet

biz

[geniusanthony]

I haven't read through this whole thread lately but I have been meaning to add two rentals I have had recently, in the past two or three years. That does put everything in your price range though, so its still relevant. On to the Vics:

'05 and up Mazda MPV for a strictly kid hauler or light tow/maybe/tourer

'05 and up body style of Xterra, great truck, good room, easy clean up and great motor.

can't comment on mileage of either but I wil say that the MPV drove great on a TDY trip from seattle to San Diego. twice with my Firebolt in the back. all the seats folded into the floor and had loads of room for other stuff. Drove like a coupe more than like a mini van.

Another I almost bought was a Liberty TDI, just couldn't get over the diesel sound kinda small too...

[Eric_Shea]

I've had mine for 6 years and I've replaced the MAF (because I ran a K&N back when I was stupider)

23mpg on the hwy. AWD. Paid for and I'm gonna drive the wheels off it. It totally "ROCKED" on the BLM tracks in Moab. "Tons" under your price range but probably not in your year range... enjoy.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/Cars-Trucks___...Z1QQ_pcatsZ6000

[ninefourteener]

Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

Turns out... after all the crap the scam-artist salesman, and the disappointments........ We finally found a dealership that gave us a good trade-in, AND gave us a good deal on the car we REALLY wanted. We were LITERALLY on our way to another dealership when we decided to give another Subaru dealership a chance.

The newest member of our family:

2007 Subaru Tribeca 7-passenger Limited
3rd row seats
Leather interior
Moonroof
Dual climate control
Window deicers
Driver + passenger power heated seats
19,000 miles (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It's been a couple days..... but we've had our first fill-up.

We're AVERAGING 21mpg, on rock-bottom 85 Octane el-cheapo gas.

We're only supposed to get 21mpg on the highway... with premium.

We filled up with mid-grade just to see if we can justify the price.. we'll see.

Again... you have no idea how happy we are about this. I even got the color I wanted!!

Thanks everyone (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

(IMG:http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w69/ninefourteener_wrx/tribeca001.jpg)