Shopping for a New SUV

[91r100gs]

Not that this is an Explorer. I recently purchased a 2018 F-150, the build quality is excellent. Not a squeak or rattle after 4 months. I drove a 2018 Explorer loaner for 2 days for recall work. It was nice and enjoyed it a lot. It had the NA 3.5 L V-6. Plenty of power even down low, the transmission is the same as my F-150 and the programming was just the same, smooth and seamless. The one I drove was an XLT. It is possible to negotiate a better price on the Ford extended service plan. I ended up getting mine for half price. The loaner I was driving was selling new for $36,000. If you do not need the third row, consider a 4 door pickup. The crew cabs have oodles of room. They have better resale than most vehicles. A 4 door Lariat level F-150 with leather can be had for your $50K target.

 

[Wildcat]

I know we are all different, but reliability and dependability are far and away higher on my own personal checklist. Even if I have to give up features. Comfort is another. I feel the only way to really know if a car "fits" is to drive it at length, further than a test drive, where you can settle in and adjust everything to your liking, sit for an hour or two, see how it handles every stretch of road and every curve. So hard to do that though, especially as much as today's vehicles cost--it's a huge gamble. I do buy only used cars now, however. Makes it tough for the brands I prefer as their resale value is up there a bit, but it does take some of the sting out of it.

 

[2011etec]

Its been a couple of months now since I bought my used ford edge (2013) with 26,000 miles on it .Its awd with a 285hp 3.5 and six speed sport select tranny.No sqeeks or rattles and cruises at 80 plus effortlessly.Cannot speak about winter yet but from everybody ive talked to it handles our winters which can get nasty easily.Went out yesterday towing my atv up a fairly crappy logging road and no slipping of tires or any other issues.The new edge has the 2.7 ecoboost at 325 hp ! Its been redesigned and might be one to look at Hyfi.

 

[hjames]

I know its not a hypermiler, but what kind of fuel economy are you seeing with that 2013 V6?

Its been a couple of months now since I bought my used ford edge (2013) with 26,000 miles on it .Its awd with a 285hp 3.5 and six speed sport select tranny.No sqeeks or rattles and cruises at 80 plus effortlessly.Cannot speak about winter yet but from everybody ive talked to it handles our winters which can get nasty easily.Went out yesterday towing my atv up a fairly crappy logging road and no slipping of tires or any other issues.The new edge has the 2.7 ecoboost at 325 hp ! Its been redesigned and might be one to look at Hyfi.

 

[2011etec]

Honestly ive never really thought about it .I believe its around 25 to 27 mpg on the hyway and 17 to 19 around town .Of course towing or stomping on the gas degrades it .Its way better on gas than my old f150 4.6 was and is actually way more powerfull.Im single so I use it like a 2 seat wagon with the rear seats folded down and my fishing or hunting junk in there.There is plenty of room however you configure it for a small family or couple .Ive read that the 3.5 non ecoboost is a reliable high miler .Its not a small suv, more of a mid size with the explorer being a large suv I quess.The new edge in say sel trim has a 2 litre twin scroll turbo with a 8 speed tranny and for the o.p. has ten way drivers power seats and 8 way for the passenger.The heated seats are a god send for northern climes and awd is seamless and as far as im concerned a must.Mine can be turned off and if there is and issue with the awd it reverts to fwd so your not getting stranded .Ton of features.Mine now has steel rims with bridgestone blizzak dm-v2 winter tires on it .

 

[Hyfi]

The problem with all these newer SUVs is how they chop off the back and you lose 12 cubic feet of storage. My 07 Rav is square and 7 inches higher opening than every other SUV today. Then they give you a Cubic Foot rating that includes every possible inch of unusable space as if your cargo is water. The Edge always was one of the better looking Fords

 

[whyaskit]

I have a Honda Pilot. Love it. Looked at the Toyota 4Runner, Acura MDX (almost bought one, decided the value for cost was better with the pilot). Infiniti. Nissan Pathfinder. Mazda. Explorer. A couple of Chevy models.


I’m 6’2” and I’m very comfortable in it driving or as a passenger. It doesn’t slope in the back (another reason I didn’t get the MDX. It slopes).

Lots of room. Up to 29 mpg on the highway. Plus I think it looks nice.

Anyway. Just my 2 pennies.

 

[Hyfi]

I have a Honda Pilot. Love it. Looked at the Toyota 4Runner, Acura MDX (almost bought one, decided the value for cost was better with the pilot). Infiniti. Nissan Pathfinder. Mazda. Explorer. A couple of Chevy models.


I’m 6’2” and I’m very comfortable in it driving or as a passenger. It doesn’t slope in the back (another reason I didn’t get the MDX. It slopes).

Lots of room. Up to 29 mpg on the highway. Plus I think it looks nice.

Anyway. Just my 2 pennies.

I liked the Pilot, lots of vehicle for the money, but no full power for passenger seats was the killer.

Both my wife and I have back issues and we don't have designated His and Hers cars, we each take what we want when we want.

 

[Wildcat]

I have a Honda Pilot. Love it. Looked at the Toyota 4Runner, Acura MDX (almost bought one, decided the value for cost was better with the pilot).

I'm leaning towards either the current generation Pilot, current MDX, or even the 2nd gen RDX when I'm ready to upgrade in a couple of years. (I really want the V6, mainly.) The only thing I will really miss is having the Pioneer head unit--I am playing high-res files in the car, and no auto manufacturer I like can play back even FLAC files, let alone high-res. And the way these systems are now, you can't even replace the head unit anymore.

 

[Route 66]

I'm in the market myself and leaning towards the new Ford Edge ST. It's more of a hot rod SUV with paddle shifters, twin turbos and 335 HP, 380 foot pounds of torque.

https://www.ford.com/suvs-crossovers/edge/models/edge-st/

 

[whyaskit]

I liked the Pilot, lots of vehicle for the money, but no full power for passenger seats was the killer.

Both my wife and I have back issues and we don't have designated His and Hers cars, we each take what we want when we want.

If you mean the ability to remember a seat setting for different people. (My pilot has complete ability to adjust a seat electronically) I can see that being an issue. Luckily me and my wife, who have the same arrangement in cars. Take what you want, like similar settings. I can see that being a big issue

I'm leaning towards either the current generation Pilot, current MDX, or even the 2nd gen RDX when I'm ready to upgrade in a couple of years. (I really want the V6, mainly.) The only thing I will really miss is having the Pioneer head unit--I am playing high-res files in the car, and no auto manufacturer I like can play back even FLAC files, let alone high-res. And the way these systems are now, you can't even replace the head unit anymore.

That is a issue with a number of newer vehicles. Finding a car that cam accommodate either high Rez or an aftermarket head unit is a tough find

I, at one point, was big into car audio. Usually had Alpine or Soundstream headunits and I replay liked MB Quart and Boston Acoustic speakers. I also loved JL audio subs. I think if I was still into the competition side of car audio,I want high resolution files to be played as well. But that time has long gone. I happy just to enjoy the music. Plus, for me, I don’t find a need for high Rez in a car. The ambient noise is high enough. Even with a quiet car the details and texture that high Rez excels at is lost when competing against that noise. I’m good with small files that I play through my phone. Either bluetooth or via a USB port the pilot has. Heck, I even stream a lot and find the sound system to be pretty nice.

Anyway. Good luck on your search.

 

[Wildcat]

I find hi-res essential; I don't even touch MP3 since it sounds so horrible, and even WMA has its limitations. I get less stress headaches listening to hi-res in the car than I did even with CDs (something I find even at home)--it has to do with the smoothness in the highs and the proximity effect also. I'm going to miss it when I have to severely downgrade my audio playback in the future. I didn't go totally crazy on my current installation, but did install a power amp and upgraded the speakers on all four corners, and added a smaller sub for the rear cargo area. Certainly sounds good! But to each is own, eh? Auto manufacturers are the slowest to get up to current standards on anything audio, at least in the mainstream models. I'd be happy enough if they would entertain FLAC files. But they are all about people connecting phones via Bluetooth and streaming from those, with USB file playback as an afterthought.

 

[SoCal Sam]

Glad to see Kia and Hyundai are not on your list. I just saw a news story of the cars spontaneously combusting. There is frightening video of this happening at freeway speeds. Of course, the manufacturers are resisting the recall.

 

[2011etec]

Cant wait to see the new 2020 Ford Bronco.My dealer has ordered a few rangers already.He told me theres quite the line up of people that want one and have put deposits on them.(Ranger).

 

[8xlaxx]

78K is nothing on a Toyota RAV4,...in fact, I'd say it's still a baby!

I think you're making a big mistake letting it go especially if you've done all the recommended services. That vehicle will run forever and the yotas have great motors. Swap over to synthetic oil and you'll be good to go and do the 90K service. Save your money and not get into a payment (if you have to have one).

If you are going to follow thru and let it go, then the Highlander should be on your radar screen. The older Highlanders were fantastic,... I have a friend that has 200K on hers and she's passed on a Lexus or two in favor of keeping her 'lander instead because it feels comfortable and 'right' for her when she drives it.

I'm a firm believer in my '06 4Runner. Not a lick of trouble thus far. Best of luck!

 

[Hyfi]

If you mean the ability to remember a seat setting for different people. (My pilot has complete ability to adjust a seat electronically) I can see that being an issue. Luckily me and my wife, who have the same arrangement in cars. Take what you want, like similar settings. I can see that being a big issue
That is a issue with a number of newer vehicles. Finding a car that cam accommodate either high Rez or an aftermarket head unit is a tough find

Anyway. Good luck on your search.

No, I am talking about being able to adjust the Passenger seat as many ways or close as the Driver seat. Too many MFGs don't give a crap about the comfort of the passenger. I have had to pass up many SUVs and MFGs because of this.

Glad to see Kia and Hyundai are not on your list. I just saw a news story of the cars spontaneously combusting. There is frightening video of this happening at freeway speeds. Of course, the manufacturers are resisting the recall.

You must not have been following closely, the Santa Fe is my best choice right now for many reasons even tho I originally budgeted higher.

78K is nothing on a Toyota RAV4,...in fact, I'd say it's still a baby!

I think you're making a big mistake letting it go especially if you've done all the recommended services. That vehicle will run forever and the yotas have great motors. Swap over to synthetic oil and you'll be good to go and do the 90K service. Save your money and not get into a payment (if you have to have one).

If you are going to follow thru and let it go, then the Highlander should be on your radar screen. The older Highlanders were fantastic,... I have a friend that has 200K on hers and she's passed on a Lexus or two in favor of keeping her 'lander instead because it feels comfortable and 'right' for her when she drives it.

I'm a firm believer in my '06 4Runner. Not a lick of trouble thus far. Best of luck!

I'm just tired of it and want something more comfortable and modern. I will get great resale out of this Rav because I keep my vehicles in as close to showroom condition as possible. Nobody believes it's an '07 when they see it. And yes, every bit of maintenance and more has been done. It does have a few minor issues tho. It has the Oil Consumption issue, but just a few ounces per 1000 miles to not get a new motor. It also developed a known issue somewhere between the Trans and Transfer where if you are going between 38 and 42 MPH, you get a vibration/rattle that sounds like the muffler heat shield vibrating. They told me new Trans and or Transfer but one person cleared it up with a Trans Flush. I just did it last month and within 3 days of the flush, the condition was gone. Several mechanics could not figure the noise out, but as soon as I told the guy at Toyota the symptoms, he knew right away what it was.....so it must be common enough.

Believe me, we have indeed kicked around the option to keep it, but we generally like to rotate new every 10-12 years....just because we can so why not.

 

[Hyfi]

Last night we looked at the Subarus for a sanity check. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the Lemon they sold me several years ago. I love their all wheel drive train, it is the best.

We wanted to look at the new Ascent, but even at the top trim level, Touring, the front passenger seat was only 4way, so it was off the list. The new Outback Wagons are really nice and the right size or better than most other SUVs we looked at for cargo, BUT once again, they don't give a crap about passenger comfort and only 4way again at all trim levels.

So we looked at the Forester. We could only drive a base model which the interior was cheesy at best. Very peppy but not a quiet ride or as comfortable as most others, you feel every ripple in the road. It was also smaller in the cargo area and almost no under storage where the spare is.

After we drove the base, they let us sit in and play with a sold Touring model which was much more desirable interior, but same ride. What I can say tho, is out of all the SUVs we have looked at, this Harman Kardon Stereo was awesome. I had some MP3s created from FLAC files on my USB stick and played thru some Riverside and Kevin Gilbert tracks. It has an outboard amp and sub in the back.

I really wish they had that stereo in the Santa Fe.

Last thing I plan to do is look at the 2019 Acura RDX to see if we want to sacrifice a little cargo space for comfort and $15K more and also give up the Hyundai 0% financing.

 

[arts]

Last night we looked at the Subarus for a sanity check. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the Lemon they sold me several years ago. I love their all wheel drive train, it is the best.

I was seriously considering the Forester a while back. Being heavily involved in mechanics for my entire life,I know how to dig and do research on vehicles.What I discovered about (recent,less than five years old) Subaru and it's reliability and customer service ''issues'' was an absolute disgrace.Spoke to several local owners directly,and the feedback was NOT complimentary.Easy decision;nope!

 

[Hyfi]

I drove the Acura RDX last night. Very nice car for sure. They have no incentives, you cannot play music from a USB stick, Roof Racks and All Weather mats add another $1600. Size of Cargo area was surprisingly decent, still less in width and like the rest, 7 inches less in height.

We decided to save the Luxury SUV for the next rotation when I will be close to or retired and we will take more road trips. For this time, we are going to go see what kind of deal we can get on a Santa Fe. It's just the smartest economical decision for us right now. It has more included options and features than any other car we looked at and nobody really beats the warranty. Probably going for the Lava Orange with Graystone interior.

Bottom line tho, out of all the vehicles we drove, the MDX and RDX were the nicest overall. Maybe next time.

 

[91r100gs]

Probably a good choice. Have seen many positive YouTube videos of the 2019 Santa Fe. I like how it looks. Are you going with the base or the Turbo Engine?