e-mail correspondence of the day…
Funny to SDXB, 10:21 AM:
My son theoretically wants to go look at cars today. He invited me to tag along, to serve as moral support against the car sales vultures.
Mine is back in the shop. Really, it’s got 124,000 miles on it…think it’s about time to get serious about replacing it. The costs though…holy SH!T! I don’t have that much saved up. And without a job and a real income, I’m not gonna get that much saved up, either. Ever.
SDXB to Funny, 1:00 PM:
Just spend the effing money, Funny, and get yourself a good sedan. I recommend the Camry. Damn nice cars, and the gas mileage you can expect makes the deal more attractive. Your old Sienna is beginning to nickel and dime you. Buy a reliable car now and it’ll probably last until your kid uses it to drive the ashes to wherever.
Funny to SDXB, 6:10 PM:
I’m not nuts about the newer Camry models. They’re not roomy enough, and they suffer from the same Fordification that has begun to afflict Toyota in general..
Chuck replaced the rear brake thingies for free. But he said if that didn’t fix the squeal, then the brake drums would need to be replaced. I said if that were the case he’d be replacing the drums on a new Honda CR-V. He laughed.
Amazingly, M’hijito called yesterday and asked if I would accompany him to various dealers to test-drive candidate vehicles, whose specs, as luck would have it, happen to coincide pretty much with my own needs and desires. He didn’t want to confront car salesmen alone any more than I do…so…two’s company. As it were.
We looked at the Hyundai Tucson, Honda CR-V, the Subaru Forester and Crosstrack, and the Toyota RAV-4.
He seemed to favor the Subaru (mostly, I think, because his friends drive one and also because you can get almost all the Honda’s considerable bells & whistles in the Subaru for less money). And I’d say that for a young man who will buy several more cars during his lifetime and will be knocking around with camping, fishing, dog transport, and Home Depot adventures, the Subaru would be highly serviceable. Also, he’s thinking of moving to Wisconsin, and the Subaru comes equipped with a standard anti-skid feature that will pull the car out of a skid on ice. So we’re told. There’s room to install a couple of kidlet car seats, should he ever find the Mother of My Grandchildren, and still have room for Charley, too. The Subaru has a slightly sporty feel, too, which maybe appeals to a young man.
Neither of us cared much for the 2013 RAV-4. Toyota has really cheapied down the interior, with plastic imitation materials that would make you wonder why anyone would want them even if they were real materials. By the time we got there, I was tired and my patience was short, the result being that I took an instant dislike to the sales-bi*ch who was foisted onto us. M’hijito didn’t seem to respond to her the same way I did, and so I assume my reaction to her was the result of weariness and old-lady crankiness. But she kept babbling on and on and ON reciting, pretty much in a monotone, what was a very long and very obviously canned spiel. If she had just SHUT THE F**K UP and let us examine the vehicle quietly and ask questions that would have elicited the same pitches when we were ready to listen to them, she would have gotten a lot farther with me.
The Honda feels a little more luxurious — it has a pleasantly appointed interior. With lumbar support and an armrest, the driver’s seat is unbelievably comfortable. Unless I crash this vehicle and total it, I believe the next car will be the last one I’ll ever buy. So I’m willing to pay a little more to get something I think I won’t get tired of.
The spaciousness of the driver’s and front-seat passenger area is comparable to the Sienna’s. Leather seats and the very generous standard set of bells & whistles make it a very, very nice car. Luxurious, really. The back seats fold down — not completely flat, unfortunately, but good enough for government work. There’s plenty of room for two little pooches or one big dawg back there. Pup should come crate-trained. Cassie also will go in a crate without much complaint. So I’m thinking when I get this new tank, I’ll get one of those soft-fold crates for Cassie and put her in it when she rides in the car — that will be a lot safer for her. And then Pup will simply never have a time when he runs around loose inside a car. The vehicle has a TON of space for gear and purchases. In theory I could go camping IN the damn thing. Just bring a soft mat and a sleeping bag, and voilà! A hard tent!
Funny to readers: 6:30 PM:
So what think you, dear readers? Does anyone own any of these vehicles? If so, how are they doing for you? Has anyone researched them, or does anyone trade in the things?
Each of us is looking for a dependable crossover vehicle with plenty of room for dogs, cargo, and traveling. Any ideas?
Image: 2012 Honda CR-V. IFCAR. Public domain.
I’m looking for something similar – however I’m not a small lass, and find that Honda and Toyota don’t give me enough room.
I liked the Subaru – both the forester and the outback – seats *do* fold down completely flat in both of those. There is a new Subaru that I haven’t had a chance to drive yet – it’s the crosstrek – sits somewhere in between the forester and the outback I believe. And, if I understand correctly, it will be available in a hybrid engine either later this year, or next year, so that’s appealing to me.
Yeah, the salesdude mentioned a hybrid is supposed to come out in the near future.
It’s neat that the seats fold down actually FLAT. The Crosstrek is a little closer to the ground; feels a lot more like a wagon or hatchback. My son was interested in it. Personally, after 13 years of driving a van, I like to be a little higher off the pavement — also, since EVERYONE is driving SUVs today, I feel safer in a bigger vehicle. Would like a smaller one, but would NOT like to get smushed like a bug by someone else’s monster car.
I lump car shopping right in with going to the dentist….I find it unenjoyable. My current vehicle is 10 years old and I’m shooting for 20 . Recently I looked around a bit and to replace my vehicle would cost right around $30K…”soup to nuts”…no thank you. I do tend to do a lot of the work on my vehicles…a savings . But as time goes by there is more and more that only the dealer/mechanic can fix. Aaand the fact that the minute you drive that new vehicle off the lot, about 20% of the value just evaporates just drives me crazy. Is your old car that bad?…I’m told the new ones are “good” for 200-300K miles so that would make yours with 125K a “spring chicken”.
My mechanic thinks my 2000 Toyota Sienna will run to about 150,000 to 200,000 miles without major problems. But it is beginning to evince some issues — nickel-and-diming, actually. Except in today’s exchange, “nickel” means about $200 and “dime” means something more like $1,000.
My son’s car, though, is another matter. The mechanic says it needs a $1700 repair job soon — if not fixed, it will stop running within the next three or four months. It originally belonged to a high-school kid, who left it home — after crashing it twice — when he went off to college. His father sold it to my son’s father for a song, just to get the junk off the driveway. My son has been driving it for quite a few years.
It was a piece of junk when he got it, and it now is really shot. He’s always hated it — he was driving my beautiful Camry in San Francisco, really a VERY nice car, when some stupid teenaged kid barreled into it where it was parked and totaled it. The insurance company ripped him off — he got nothing like enough to replace it with a comparable vehicle. He bought a piece of junk at the time; then when he was laid off and ended up back here, replaced it with the somewhat better piece of junk he’s been driving (at least this one’s roof doesn’t leak!).
He really, REALLY needs a new car.
Bought the Honda CR-V the year it came out – maybe 14 years ago? Still going strong. I’ve actually twice been asked by strangers if I want to sell it. One woman insisted I take her phone # “just in case”. Used ones must be hard to find. If and when I need to replace it I will certainly get another Honda CR-V.
That is amazing!
The CR-V was far and away the best of the several vehicles we examined that were in the $20,000 to $25,000 range.
My mom has a 2001 Subaru Outback that’s still going after 280,000+ miles. However, she has had to replace most of the major parts in it, including the clutch. I can’t remember if she needed a new engine or not.
Still, it’s fun to drive and not too big, though it’s definitely sizeable enough to hold a lot of stuff. And it does handle well in the snow (Mom’s in Colorado).
Subarus have a reputation of lasting a long time, but I suspect that those who keep them for a long while also have access to a good Subaru mechanic. I mean, Mom’s car hasn’t had a great deal of problems, but when something does go wrong, one needs a reliable person to fix it.
I’m told the Subaru is more expensive to repair than comparable vehicles.
One way or another though, the trick is to maintain them well, I think: keep the oil changed and the belts checked, fix small things before they evolve into bigger problems, and pray for the best.
I don’t currently own a car in my big city but am savingoup for the day that I will want to own one again. At 124k miles, you will be relacing it in the next couple of years, most likely. It is an expense that you will have – you just don’t know when. Given that, are you saving now for a car? Realistically, how much can you put aside for it? If you’re not already, start saving and then what you have when the current car dies is what you’ll have yo work with. I don’t think new cars are worth the premium – if you can even save $5-10k, you can get a very decent used car.
I will pay for mine in cash.
My son says he’s been setting aside the equivalent of a car payment every month. At that rate, he has several more years to go before he would have enough cash to buy the vehicle outright. Obviously, $1700 bills, which can be expected to recur, will slow that process down considerably.
He’s been driving junk for SO long that he’s truly sick and tired of other people’s cast-off junkers. He works hard, he makes a decent salary (for Arizona), he doesn’t diddle his money away on anything else, and so it seems reasonable for him to buy a brand-new vehicle, given that it can be expected to run for another 10 to 15 years.
As for moi, this will be the last car I ever buy. In 12 to 15 years, I will no longer be able to drive. Given the Sienna’s track record — 14 years without major issues, and still running — it’s reasonable to expect a new vehicle will run just about 12 to 15 years, especially considering that I don’t put as many miles on my car as I used to.
I understand the concept of avoiding depreciation. However, living on Social Security and as little of my savings as humanly possible, there’s no more cash income to set aside for another vehicle. If I buy something that’s several years old, it may not run until the end of my driving career — and in that case, I’ll be in trouble, because I won’t be able to replace it. So I think it makes sense to pay three or four thousand dollars extra to be confident that the car will run as long as I need to have it.
I have a 2011 CR-V and I am very happy with it. The seat is helpful for my back, altho I do have a lumbar support pillow on top of the car seat.
The CR-V’s driver’s seat was noticeably more comfortable on my sore back than the others.
I had a 2001 Honda CRV bought new and loved it. Drove it until last year-11 years. Had about 150,000 miles on it. Loved it! Sold it for about $4000.
Bought a new Subaru Imprezza last year and love it too! Both have all wheel drive which is important to me. Both hold a lot of cargo.
Yeah, the Imprezza is a nice car. The Crosstrek is an Imprezza crossover.
I have a 2007 CR-V that I bought new and have been loving ever since. You cannot believe how much stuff fits in this vehicle and it is comfortable for long trips (we do regular road trips from Montana to Wyoming and occasional road trips to California in it). We are somewhere in the 80,000 miles range and have had ZERO mechanical issues. We take care of the oil changes and tire rotations on schedule and that is it. I am also happy with its performance driving in Montana and Wyoming winter weather. I definitely recommend it!
It’s amazing, isn’t it? Remember when a car was starting to get old when it had 3000 or 4000 miles, and 10,000 miles was some kind of miracle?
I love the Mazda 5… sort of like a cross between a station wagon and a minivan. Carries 6 people or a ton of cargo which is exactly what I want in my next vehicle.
Mazda was also an option. I covet a Miata!! But if I got a cute little sports car, I’d have to keep the Dog Chariot for hauling stuff, and I really don’t want to own two cars. {sighy}
I used to LOVE the Miata and covet one greatly but I can’t foresee a time in my life that would be appropriate anymore. Dogs, y’see. 😉
But PiC’s nearly ready for a minivan despite the dearth of kids in our lives, just because he thinks they’re so dang handy and hi-tech. And it’s so much easier for Doggle to get into, I’d willing to be swayed even though I’m not particularly wanting to drive a tank.
We drove Camrys for years, but picked up 10 year old non-Toyotas here in the Bay Area when I moved and they’ve been driving like a dream. It helps that “used” cars here are so much more lightly used than say, SoCal.
We budget about $2000/year for maintenance which probably seems steep but we definitely got good deals to begin with and don’t always spend that much annually so it works out ok.
Subarus are tough, though I’ve not driven one, I’m sure you know they’re very popular around here and seem to last a good long while; we have heard really good things about some of the Hondas as we have friend who work in quality assurance and testing.
I used to own a 1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata M-Edition. I even got the extra hard top that made it look like a sport coupe. The paint job was amazing, British racing green in the sunlight and dark blue in the shade. It was gorgeous. But it was too small for a primary car and I really missed my car stereo that went boom with multiple subwoofers. My solution was the 1996 Subaru Outback so I could fit four 12 inch subwoofers in the back. Another reason I liked the Outback was that I could jump curbs and fly over speed bumps with no fear, something about having an off-road suspension is appealing even though I never really went off-roading. However, eighth year the engine would suddenly die on me and after countless attempts with the dealer and mechanics I need a more reliable car. That’s when I bought my current 2005 Acura RSX which I love because it was easy to put in a high end audio system almost as powerful as my Outback. However, as I get older, the stiff suspension of this car is getting on my nerves. Which has lead me to the small SUV’s you have been looking at. I would highly suggest the 2014 Mazda CX-5 Touring for your son. I would also suggest going the route of just getting the 2014 Honda CRV LX 2wd instead of top of the line. Leather and sunroofs are nice but in the Southwest it tends to become more of a liability than a luxury.
Such a delightful little car, the Miata! A friend had one, and I’ve coveted it ever since I got to ride around with him once.
For reasons I don’t understand, my son said he doesn’t trust the Mazda vehicles and refused to look at one. That’s too bad.
Weirdly, leather actually holds up here pretty well. The ex- and I had a Mercedes, which lasted for about 15 years — until the government switched us over to unleaded gas. It ran on leaded gas. We were told it would run for a while on unleaded, but eventually we would have to buy a new engine, which of course we couldn’t begin to afford. So that wonderful car went to the junkyard, replaced by a Toyota Camry.
Sunroofs really are weird in this part of the country. That is something I’ve never been able to figure out…why on earth would anyone want one of those things?