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YACT **Update got a Highlander

W

wyvrn

Lifer
Well what a couple of weeks it has been. This weekend capped it off when our Infiniti was stolen in Houston. We went for my wife's bro's wedding, and few hours before the ceremony found our car gone from the parking lot of the apartment we were staying in. The police didn't bother coming out, just took our report over the phone which makes me think we will never see it again.

We have a 6 week old girl, so we need something with ROOM, and hopefully some gas efficiency. I think our budget is around $18-26k range, and we can float a few thou down. We are not getting insurance money because we didn't have theft protection, we only carried liability and uninsured motorist on the car at the time. My wife wants the soccer-mom van, I want a Sport-Ute but am willing to buy whatever is most practical. Early candidates are:

Honda Odyssey
Toyota Sienna
Toyota Highlander
Mitsubishi Endeavor
Nissan Quest
Mazda MPV
Toyota 4Runner
Dodge Caravan
GMC Envoy
Passat Wagon
Legacy Wagon
LandRover Discovery (hahaha)


I wanna narrow it down to top 3 choices, then do my research on options and final pricing. Any advice / suggestions / experiences are welcomed.
 
Originally posted by: dabuddha
Ouch no insurance money?
Click to expand...

This one stings, but not that bad. I recently dropped the comprehensive on the car for a couple of reasons. First, it is a 1994 and worth maybe $2500. Second, comprehensive was 50% of the insurance cost and we were paying 50% of the vehicle's worth every year in insurance, so it seemed like a good ideas to drop it. The car would have easily lasted two more years though, we kept it in excellent condition. We took the chance that it wouldn't get stolen (never had one stolen, neither has anyone I know in fact) and we were burned. I stick by my choice though since in long run carrying comprehensive on older cars doesn't make financial sense, even if you have one of your older cars stolen at some point. We did carry liability and un-insured motorist though.
 
Split the difference and get something like a Passat or Subaru wagon.

Good space, great economy, good handling, very safe. They will have as much room as a midsize sport ute, but better economy than a minivan.
 
Originally posted by: Muadib
Originally posted by: dabuddha
Ouch no insurance money?
Click to expand...

Yeah explain please. You can't buy a car without insurance here. It's gotta be the same in Texas, right?
Click to expand...

you don't have to have theft insurance, you only need to have liability/uninsured motorist insurance.

 
Explanation of no insurance is in my second post 🙂

vi_edit:

The wagons look interesting. Definately something I will consider.
 
Anything less than a v6 in a van will give you little/no power.

Don't know much about cars, but we have a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan and works like a champ, never been to the shop. Granted it hasn't been very long, but it has already ~70,000 miles on it, so its been through a lot, used and abused.

Vans are pretty dang expensive though.

I'm fond of the 4Runner myself.
 
I don't know if you want new/used but VW Passat Wagon / Audi A4 Avant are pretty good cars... they are very comfortable, only downside is repairs are pretty expensive after they go out of warranty...

Subarus are awesome cars as well... I love the Outback, or you can even try Imprezza Wagon 🙂

 
A4/Impreza's are dinky. Useless for a family. That's why I suggested Passat. For Subaru, look at the Legacy wagons.

Our Passat wagon has 65k miles on it. Only things I've done to it are replace a break light bulb for $2.50 at 50k miles and replace a headlight bulb just the other day for $14. I did take it in for a vaccum hose recall a few months back. Other than that, very problem free. We have the FWD V6. Get's about 28MPG on the highway, and around 22 in town. We have averaged 25MPG over the last 2000 miles of mixed driving.

The front seats are very comfortable. There is a ton of room in the back seats. And the rear hatch space is big enough to humble many mid size SUV's.
 
the 4runner rules... even a used one would do ya fine... runs forever, decent power/economy, looks good and always has, excellent resale value... plus, you can actually take it far, far off pavement and it won't cry like a little girl. You can actually do quite a bit with 'em.

the highlander is also a good little sport/ute, if youre looking for the smaller/cheaper option...

I like Subaru AWD as well, great for all-weather driving... though im not sure exactly where you live, AWD is fantastic in the snow.

that said, I'd still take the 4runner.
 
I would swap the Dodge Caravan for a Ford Windstar. The Windstar is truly undervalued because of early production quality issues that have been resolved by the redesign in 1998. I personally just bought a 2000 Windstar for the wife and found the quality much better than the Caravan and it's clones.
 
Originally posted by: wyvrn
Originally posted by: dabuddha Ouch no insurance money?
Click to expand...
This one stings, but not that bad. I recently dropped the comprehensive on the car for a couple of reasons. First, it is a 1994 and worth maybe $2500. Second, comprehensive was 50% of the insurance cost and we were paying 50% of the vehicle's worth every year in insurance, so it seemed like a good ideas to drop it. The car would have easily lasted two more years though, we kept it in excellent condition. We took the chance that it wouldn't get stolen (never had one stolen, neither has anyone I know in fact) and we were burned. I stick by my choice though since in long run carrying comprehensive on older cars doesn't make financial sense, even if you have one of your older cars stolen at some point. We did carry liability and un-insured motorist though.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the car, sucka!
 
Well Houston PD found the car. It's driveable but the driver's side is messed up pretty bad. I am trying to convince my wife we should trade it in for a new one still 🙂
 
Originally posted by: wyvrn
Well Houston PD found the car. It's driveable but the driver's side is messed up pretty bad. I am trying to convince my wife we should trade it in for a new one still 🙂
Click to expand...

Why new? Get a nice "new" pre-loved car... 😉
I'd go for a Passat Wagon or Toyota Sienna. The Sienna is a really nicely made minivan, but the Highlander is a good choice too if you can find it used. I'd also consider a Nissan Pathfinder as my friend just purchased a 2001 for $14k.
 
Originally posted by: KokomoGST
Originally posted by: wyvrn
Well Houston PD found the car. It's driveable but the driver's side is messed up pretty bad. I am trying to convince my wife we should trade it in for a new one still 🙂
Click to expand...

Why new? Get a nice "new" pre-loved car... 😉
I'd go for a Passat Wagon or Toyota Sienna. The Sienna is a really nicely made minivan, but the Highlander is a good choice too if you can find it used. I'd also consider a Nissan Pathfinder as my friend just purchased a 2001 for $14k.
Click to expand...

The Infiniti was a pre-loved car and has it's share of problems because of the way it was driven before we purchased it. I would like to avoid that scenario again.
 
My parents have a 96 Grand Caravan. It was on the first truck to the dealership with the redesigned vans for 96. They have 120,000 miles on it now, and it has been a pretty good van. Much more comortable and handles better than a comparable Windstar in my opinion. I always hated how the seats in a Windstar lean when you drive it. Feels like a big marshmellow.

Mini vans give the most space for the buck, and have good mileage (better than SUV generally).
 
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