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New car time - help


wuzzzer

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In February the lease is coming to an end on my current car (2016 Ford Fusion).  Next vehicle will be purchased, not leased.  Here's the requirements that it HAS to have:

 

Midsize SUV.  Gotta be able to haul the big ole' Klipsch around, right?

AWD.  Minnesota winters and living/working in rural MN.

Factory installed tow package.  Will occasionally tow a small boat/trailer weighing 1,000 - 1,500 pounds max.

Turbo 4 cylinder or V6.  Want the power for towing and I want decent power.

 

Price range is $15,000 MAX  Would like the vehicle to have as far under 100,000 as possible.  Even though six out of the seven vehicles I've owned have been Fords I am open to other brands.

 

Some that I've considered:

 

Ford Edge or Escape

Jeep Cherokee or Grand Cherokee

Dodge Journey

Chevy Equinox

 

I'll be making a decision anytime between now and the end of January when the Fusion is turned in.  Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

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47 minutes ago, CECAA850 said:

I don't know anything about the Ford or Chevy but on the remaining 3 the Grand Cherokee is the clear winner.  Not even close.

 

I have a 2017 Grand Cherokee that I purchased new; it now has about 11,000 miles on it. I bought it because my sister has a 2000 Grand Cherokee, with over 350,000 miles on it, that she still drives regularly. She also has a 2015 Grand Cherokee that she loves.

 

My GC replaced a 2000 Ford Explorer 2-door. Compared to the Explorer, the GC is heavier, much more powerful (nearly twice the horsepower from a smaller engine), and rides better but doesn't handle nearly as well (the stability control gets in the way of "enthusiastic" driving). The GC has a lot of electronic doodads that the Explorer did not, and I use very few of them.

 

In general I like the GC. My biggest complaint is that it is noisy. There is a very low-frequency "tin-can" resonance that I have tried to reduce with lots of aftermarket damping material, strategically placed on the interior of the roof panel and under the load floor. I haven't been able to completely get rid of it, and I've never been able to ignore it.

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I recently researched new SUV's.  We ended up with a 2019 Forester which was re-designed for 2019. 

 

The SUV it replaced was a 2007 Honda CRV with 220K miles.  I used the CRV for light towing w/utility trailer up to 1500 pounds, trips two hours or less.  The CRV has a 2.4 L normally aspirated engine and I can't say enough good things about it.  It's super reliable and at ten years old it's more quiet than the new Subaru.  I mention the CRV because it's in the same class as the Ford Escape which you listed as a possible vehicle.

 

Instead of looking for something turbo charged or 6 cyl I suggest you look for something with good HP and torque and don't worry about how it gets its HP.  I am not a fan of turbos but the 1500cc turbos are all the rage right now (Honda, Ford Escape).  The cars which seem to age the best and hold their value are Honda, Toyota (RAV4 we have one) and the Subaru.  The Subaru is highest rated for off-road and slippery conditions.

 

Check out Carcomplaints.com with specific model and year when researching an older car.  I recently checked out the ratings on my brother's 2014 KIA Forte and it had 204 service bulletins issued and 4 factory recalls!

https://www.carcomplaints.com/

+++

 

Ford Edge or Escape - The Escape has been highly rated for several years.  Older ones don't seem to age well IMO and I think they felt cheap compared to the Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4..

 

Jeep Cherokee or Grand Cherokee - I know nothing.

 

Dodge Journey - I know nothing first hand, and these have never been highly rated in their class.

 

Chevy Equinox - Has had reliability problems AFAIK.

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Equinox/2014/

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1 hour ago, K5SS said:

How about a 2015 - 2016 VW Tiguan?

 

https://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ctd/d/2016-volkswagen-tiguan-4motion/6772695609.html

 

Or, if you don’t need the height of an SUV, how about something “cool” like a used Golf R or Subaru WRX STI Hatch? I believe they can both can tow around 1,000 lbs, if you can believe it. 

 

Yes! 

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3 hours ago, wvu80 said:

Jeep Cherokee or Grand Cherokee - I know nothing.

 

Dodge Journey - I know nothing first hand, and these have never been highly rated in their class.

 

I wouldn't get a regular Cherokee or Journey for a family member.  I have recommended a Grand Cherokee to my son.  They have a 2014 model and it's been a really good vehicle for them.

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I'm going to go look at a 2012 Grand Cherokee tomorrow with 84,000 miles.  There's another one a couple hours away that's almost exactly the same a it but the one in town is $2,000 more.  The other one should give some negotiating leverage.

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12 hours ago, wuzzzer said:

I'm going to go look at a 2012 Grand Cherokee tomorrow with 84,000 miles.  There's another one a couple hours away that's almost exactly the same a it but the one in town is $2,000 more.  The other one should give some negotiating leverage.

6 or 8 cyl?

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13 minutes ago, wuzzzer said:

  I don't need a V8.

The Pentastar is a good engine.  The only real problem they ever had was a misfire on the center cylinder on the passenger bank.  It took a cylinder head to fix it BUT those engines that were affected had the warranty on the head extended to 150k miles.  Once the head was replaced there was never that problem again.  If you PM me the vin and mileage I can tell you if there are any warranties remaining or outstanding recalls.

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I think I'm going a slightly different direction.  The more I contemplate buying a used car the more I worry about potential costly repairs.  I've been really fortunate with the last few used cars that I've owned but it's always a roll of the dice.

 

I know the owners of a couple fairly local Jeep dealerships really well.  I'm going to go look at a 2019 Cherokee Trailhawk.  They have great lease specials on that model now through January 2nd.  I love the new front end, looks a lot more like a Grand Cherokee without the weird triple light front end that the previous Cherokees have.  I'm emailing a couple of them right now to see what the bottom dollars and cents are.

 

Thanks for everyone's insight!  I'll let you know what I decide to do.

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The new Cherokee looks much better! My boss doesn’t care about cars much and he just bought a new 2018 Cherokee, the old body style, last week. He loves it and he can buy just about any car in production.

 

Having a warranty is definitely worth something, so is the new car smell:)

 

 

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If you are now looking at leasing a new vehicle, then I would think that it will make your decision a lot simpler.  How much a month are you willing to spend and then whats the absolute best vehicle that meets your criteria that you like the most.  Once you know the budget, I would go drive everything that meets your criteria and stays around the target payment and get the one that fits.  At that point, you really don't care what the reliability or resale of the unit is because it will be under warranty for the lease term typically.  

 

If you go back to used, my opinion would vary greatly and that's where reliability and resale come into play heavily, IMO.

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1 hour ago, wuzzzer said:

I think I'm going a slightly different direction.  The more I contemplate buying a used car the more I worry about potential costly repairs.  I've been really fortunate with the last few used cars that I've owned but it's always a roll of the dice.

 

I've gone through the same kind of mental gymnastics.  Everybody has their own buying philosophy, buy used every three years etc but we like to buy new and drive them until the wheels fall off.

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27 minutes ago, richieb said:

 

=== try to find a new, brand/model you like, and those might possibly offer 0% for ?? months? Use their money; whether I can afford to pay cash for new I’ll opt for 0% anytime. Several are currently running these deals —

 

Are you saying that you would leave your cash money earning interest somewhere, even as rates are rising, and pay back someone else's money in installments at no cost to you as your money remains liquid and is earning money elsewhere?

 

Keith

 

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