I bought my current car in mid-2009, and am starting to consider trading it in for a new car. One of the things I don’t like about my car (a Ford Fusion Hybrid) is, because of where the electric battery is located, I can’t fit anything “large” inside of it (there’s no connection between the trunk and the back seat), so I am looking for something larger that lets me carry, say, something large that I bought at Ikea.
Another thing to consider is, I don’t like driving “low” - that is, when I am sitting in the driver’s seat, I prefer that my legs not be stretched out too much.
I figure that something like a “crossover” - somewhere between a sedan and an SUV - is what I am looking for. Any suggestions as to makes/models I should be looking into, or at least avoiding? Under $30,000 (before trade-in) is preferred, but if I have to go a little over, that’s not really a problem - but $35,000 is starting to push it.
I sell Subarus for a living, and I can highly recommend the Forester to you. Awesome outward visibility, high seating position relative to a sedan like your Fusion, assymetrical all wheel drive that plows through snow like a champ, high resale values, lots of room for cargo and/or dogs, lowest cost of ownership of any brand, 32MPG on the highway, etc, etc…
We just went through this, and bought a new Honda CRV. Good price, lots of room, and the lower priced trims had the safety features and screen size we wanted.
We did look at Subarus but the salesmen in the place we went were absolutely clueless. I asked about collision avoidance features, and though I pointed out one that I thought was this on the list the guy had no idea. I also said I was going to pay cash and he thrust a credit form in front of my face, and was really confused that I was not going to give him all the info. I also think you had to buy a more expensive trim to get the features.
The Kia looked okay but was way expensive. The Rad4 had bad reviews. We were thinking of a hybrid - and the Rad4 was the only choice - but the mileage was not a lot better than the CRV mileage. Plius my wife, who is going to drive it, thought it was ugly.
We had a 2006 CRV which has been very reliable, and we just sold it for a reasonable amount.
I like the Dodge Journey. It’s basically an AWD minivan.
If you don’t need AWD, then I recommend a minivan. Once you get over the lack of cool factor, they are probably the most useful vehicle ever made. Seat 7, huge cargo space, decent fuel efficiency, high payload capacity and towing capacity puts most crossovers to shame and they come at a cheaper price point than many crossovers. If you don’t mind looking like a middle-aged Dad (which I am and don’t mind) minivans are really about the most utilitarian vehicle you can own.
There’s a handful of great cars in this category. I was down to few this past year and I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them. Honda CRV, Toyota Rav4, Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester/Outback, Volkswagen Tiguan.
I’m keeping my eye out for the new Chevy Blazer due to come out early next year. At this point I’ve only seen pictures on the internet, but I believe I’ll be looking at that one.
Subaru Forester and if you want to go a tetch larger the Outback or the Ford Edge. We’re on our second… If you’re not adverse to used maybe a Volvo XC90 or Mazda CX-7.
You might want to drive one of the minivans. They aren’t as big as you might think, the gas mileage is very good on some of them, they’ll seat 8, and you can load them up.
I agree with this list - I’d recommend test driving the bunch, and seeing which one seems to suit you best. I ended up going with a CX-5 a few years ago since I liked the way it looked and handled the best (it felt very car-like, though it still has the higher ride height compared to sedans), and it seems to consistently make the top 3 of various comparisons along with the CRV.
CR-V has the best storage, and feature laden. I didn’t particularly like how it drives by personal preference. But it’s a well made car.
I drive a CX-5. If you are getting new, wait till 2019 when they’ll hopefully upgrade the infotainment (and maybe turbo). Mazda doesn’t like CVT so this is a geared automatic+manual shifting (or manual in the lower trim), so I like driving it better, YMMV.
RAV-4 will have a new generation soon. So either wait for the 2019 to come out and get that, or wait until 2019 then buy a used/new 2018 one for cheaper.
Spouse drives a 2013 Rogue. It’s okay. We’ve had some things which make me :dubious: but were fixed under warranty. Note that Rogue refers to 3 separate cars: the smaller 2007-2015 Rogue was renamed Rogue Select for 2014-2015. The 2014 on new Rogue is bigger. Then there is the 2017-current Rogue Sport, which is a rebadged Qashqai.
Subaru Forester, Outback, Crosstrek are all maybe a little boring, but good and hardy vehicles.
I’m in kinda the same boat. I’ll be looking for a new vehicle soon, and thought I might get something that could take a curling team to out-of-town games. I’m thinking of checking out the Honda Crosstour; large enough to carry just about anything I’ll ever need it to, but no so large as to be ungainly or too difficult to park. It was discontinued in 2016, but I was planning to look for a used vehicle anyway. It wasn’t a big seller, so there won’t be a huge selection available.
They weren’t scumbags. Just clueless. And the Honda salespeople were great.
Sorry it was your company.
My wife did drive the Subaru and didn’t much like it.
Actually, I was wrong. The Mazda people were clueless. The Subaru people were too busy to acknowledge our existence. We did look at the Forester in the showroom and weren’t all that impressed.
Hope you feel better now.
We felt the same way. Kids have long since left, so a crossover was a good compromise for storage versus size. No AWD, but it never snows here and we have no desire to to the Tahoe in the winter.