Wife's current daily driver is a 2014 Ford Edge with the 3.5L, 60k miles. She puts on about 15-18k per year currently, 80% hwy. It only has front wheel drive and she'd like AWD (not 4WD), being in WI. I think blind spot would be nice, too (have it on my truck).
Needs tires and brakes in the next year (tires before winter), that is $1000 if I do the brakes myself. Owe about $6k, worth about $11,500 to $12,000 on trade according to Edmunds (KBB is usually low, NADA is usually high). Have a Ford warranty until 75k, but they are really picky about fixing things lately. Not real happy with the direction of the company, and that includes a lot of problems with my 2018 F-150.
I ran the numbers and accounting for what we owe, depreciation of the current vehicle with more miles and being older, the maintenance items I know are coming, and that we can probably get a pretty good deal on a 2019 in a few months, we would break about even if we got the new one now or one year from now. We would actually be worse-off if we waited two years. It isn't until after that where we would start to come out ahead on the curve, and who knows what repairs we might needs (internal water pump failure, anyone?) and my wife would be driving a vehicle without AWD or blind spot.
First priority is reliability. Which is why we are looking Toyota and not something like an Explorer or Traverse. The high resale is nice, too, if we do get rid of it before 8 to 10 years. Looking at LE Plus or XLE trim.
So, with the redesign of the 2020 Highlander set to hit lots in December, we are looking at getting a 2019 maybe during the holiday season when they should be on clearance. What should I know about the 2019 Highlanders? Common problems? Quirks (for example, and internal water pump like the Edge has, grrr)? Hard to do oil changes on?
Also possibly considering a 2020 Subaru Ascent, but those have the I4 boxer engine, CVT, and is a brand new vehicle so no deals to be had. Mazda CX-9 is also a consideration.
Thoughts?
Needs tires and brakes in the next year (tires before winter), that is $1000 if I do the brakes myself. Owe about $6k, worth about $11,500 to $12,000 on trade according to Edmunds (KBB is usually low, NADA is usually high). Have a Ford warranty until 75k, but they are really picky about fixing things lately. Not real happy with the direction of the company, and that includes a lot of problems with my 2018 F-150.
I ran the numbers and accounting for what we owe, depreciation of the current vehicle with more miles and being older, the maintenance items I know are coming, and that we can probably get a pretty good deal on a 2019 in a few months, we would break about even if we got the new one now or one year from now. We would actually be worse-off if we waited two years. It isn't until after that where we would start to come out ahead on the curve, and who knows what repairs we might needs (internal water pump failure, anyone?) and my wife would be driving a vehicle without AWD or blind spot.
First priority is reliability. Which is why we are looking Toyota and not something like an Explorer or Traverse. The high resale is nice, too, if we do get rid of it before 8 to 10 years. Looking at LE Plus or XLE trim.
So, with the redesign of the 2020 Highlander set to hit lots in December, we are looking at getting a 2019 maybe during the holiday season when they should be on clearance. What should I know about the 2019 Highlanders? Common problems? Quirks (for example, and internal water pump like the Edge has, grrr)? Hard to do oil changes on?
Also possibly considering a 2020 Subaru Ascent, but those have the I4 boxer engine, CVT, and is a brand new vehicle so no deals to be had. Mazda CX-9 is also a consideration.
Thoughts?
