New Vehicle Purchase in small-town Montana

S

Splat54

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Jan 8, 2024
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Sometime between April and June this year my wife and I will be moving to a small town in Montana. We currently live in northern Utah. Right now we are a one vehicle family, a 1-ton truck, because my wife works from home and my one-way commute is only two miles. We camp a lot in our 25’ travel trailer, hence the truck.

We will be purchasing another vehicle once we get to Montana, probably a new or possibly certified pre-owned SUV. My commute time to work will be less than ten miles. Again, the wife will be working from home. The town where we’ll be living has two dealerships – Ford and Dodge. The closest city, Great Falls, is about 100 miles away and has many more options (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Chevy, Subaru plus Ford and Dodge). I’m brand agnostic, but we plan on keeping it for a long time.

Should I stick with one of the local dealers? I’m not a fan of any of the Dodge offerings, even though we own a Ram truck. Ford has the Escape or Edge, but how reliable are they in comparison to Toyota’s, etc.? So I’m trying to figure which is more important, a local dealer for warranty/service work, or a possibly more reliable vehicle with warranty/service work 1.5 hours away.

What are your thoughts?
 
First off congrats with the move to the beautiful state of Montana! I love it there and spent a lot of time in Missoula and Glacier areas in the late 90's. I always planned on moving there one day!

To your topic, I would buy the vehicle you want even if it means the further away dealers - if you have any issues they always give a loaner anyhow.
 
Gonna be cold in the winter with snow. Buy something with remote start and AWD/4WD. If it was me I would lean toward something like a Ridgeline for its utility, reliability and resale down the road.
Should save some moolah in Montana sales tax wise.
 
Splat54 said:
Sometime between April and June this year my wife and I will be moving to a small town in Montana. We currently live in northern Utah. Right now we are a one vehicle family, a 1-ton truck, because my wife works from home and my one-way commute is only two miles. We camp a lot in our 25’ travel trailer, hence the truck.

We will be purchasing another vehicle once we get to Montana, probably a new or possibly certified pre-owned SUV. My commute time to work will be less than ten miles. Again, the wife will be working from home. The town where we’ll be living has two dealerships – Ford and Dodge. The closest city, Great Falls, is about 100 miles away and has many more options (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Chevy, Subaru plus Ford and Dodge). I’m brand agnostic, but we plan on keeping it for a long time.

Should I stick with one of the local dealers? I’m not a fan of any of the Dodge offerings, even though we own a Ram truck. Ford has the Escape or Edge, but how reliable are they in comparison to Toyota’s, etc.? So I’m trying to figure which is more important, a local dealer for warranty/service work, or a possibly more reliable vehicle with warranty/service work 1.5 hours away.

What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Warranty only or is it going to the dealer for routine service too?
 
I owned a car that I purchased from a dealer @120 miles away from where I lived and I owned the car for 8 years and 158k miles. The saving grace is that at the time I often traveled to the dealer's city for work so it wasn't much of a hassle. That said, today I won't buy a car if the only nearby dealer is incompetent. Life is too short to have to deal with people who lack opposable thumbs.
 
GMBoy said:
First off congrats with the move to the beautiful state of Montana! I love it there and spent a lot of time in Missoula and Glacier areas in the late 90's. I always planned on moving there one day!

To your topic, I would buy the vehicle you want even if it means the further away dealers - if you have any issues they always give a loaner anyhow.
Click to expand...
Tried for a couple jobs in the great state of TX, since I'm from there originally and still have lots of family there. Didn't work out, though. My siblings cringe at the thought of me moving further north. I'm not fond of the heat+humidity.
 
sloinker said:
Gonna be cold in the winter with snow. Buy something with remote start and AWD/4WD. If it was me I would lean toward something like a Ridgeline for its utility, reliability and resale down the road.
Should save some moolah in Montana sales tax wise.
Click to expand...
Definitely remote start and AWD. What is city/highway mileage like in the Ridgeline?

Yes, we're holding off buying several big ticket items because of the no-sales-tax savings.
 
Are you going to be living on pavement or dirt?

Who's the primary driver of the SUV? Do you want something softer riding and better on gas like a unibody 4 cyl?

After this vehicle is out of warranty, will having a local dealer for parts benefit you? What if they don't stock parts and have to order them, you can do that anyway with whatever brand you want through the mail.
 
I would stick with a common vehicle. Your nearest mechanic will probably not be too familiar with Volkswagen or Audi.

Deer are a big problem so keep that in mind. Nearly everyone I know in Montana has hit a deer at some point.

Personally, I would not be stuck on AWD. A good 4WD SUV will be fine. If you are going to live in the country, I would consider a used SUV and a tractor for snow removal if I couldn't afford both a newer vehicle and a tractor.
 
Having the closest dealer 100 miles away is going to be a pain.

For sure if you buy a dodge or ford buy it locally if you cam makes any sort of reasonable deal, because that's exactly the sort of situation that will have you at the back of the line for warranty work, that's extra true if you take it in for only warranty work.
 
Splat54 said:
Sometime between April and June this year my wife and I will be moving to a small town in Montana. We currently live in northern Utah. Right now we are a one vehicle family, a 1-ton truck, because my wife works from home and my one-way commute is only two miles. We camp a lot in our 25’ travel trailer, hence the truck.

We will be purchasing another vehicle once we get to Montana, probably a new or possibly certified pre-owned SUV. My commute time to work will be less than ten miles. Again, the wife will be working from home. The town where we’ll be living has two dealerships – Ford and Dodge. The closest city, Great Falls, is about 100 miles away and has many more options (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Chevy, Subaru plus Ford and Dodge). I’m brand agnostic, but we plan on keeping it for a long time.

Should I stick with one of the local dealers? I’m not a fan of any of the Dodge offerings, even though we own a Ram truck. Ford has the Escape or Edge, but how reliable are they in comparison to Toyota’s, etc.? So I’m trying to figure which is more important, a local dealer for warranty/service work, or a possibly more reliable vehicle with warranty/service work 1.5 hours away.

What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
With that commute could look at PHEV in a Rav 4 or something. You'd basically use no gas and could plug into a normal outlet overnight and probably get full charge.
 
eljefino said:
Are you going to be living on pavement or dirt?

Who's the primary driver of the SUV? Do you want something softer riding and better on gas like a unibody 4 cyl?

After this vehicle is out of warranty, will having a local dealer for parts benefit you? What if they don't stock parts and have to order them, you can do that anyway with whatever brand you want through the mail.
Click to expand...
Likely pavement. The wife. Yes, softer riding and better on gas. I'm certainly not a mechanic.

Oh, and we'll only be living there for 5 years max, unless we love the place or get promoted again.
 
Splat54 said:
Reliability compared to the Toyota/Honda/etc.?
Click to expand...
I think my latest consumer report reading mentioned more problems with an electric compared to gas, slightly more with hybrid styles, except Toyota was the star that didn't have significant increase with hybrid styles vs. gas. But I could be remembering incorrectly. I'd personally choose Toyota.
 
5 years, buy a toyota with 30k miles if you can get it for significantly less than new. Odds are you will have to change oil and minimal maintenance.
 
---- I’m brand agnostic, but we plan on keeping it for a long time.----

without knowing your budget, in no order.....Highlander (Lexus RX), Pilot, Passport, RDX, or RAV4/CRV, CX-5.

Pressed for names, RDX or Highlander or Passport...depending on your love/hate of turbos, CVTs, V6, conventional transmissions.

It will be unlikely that you will have to go to "the city" for urgent warranty service. and any good local mechanic will be able to maintain those names.
 
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