Please help me choose my next vehicle?

[DONWATERS]

2012 or newer hyundai Tuscon 4 cylinder, the bigger one, 2.4 I think. I fit in it and am 6'6" rides great, has a reliable and proven engine and trans.

 

[Leo99]

Sounds you want a comfy American sedan. They are comfy. Maybe not the best used cars, though.

I think I'll be in your situation in my future. If my keep my 2015 Camry, it will have about 200k miles on it when I retire. Does it make sense to buy something new now so it's paid off by the time I retire and have the advanced safety features I'll probably want as I age or keep what I have and buy something with retirement money on my fixed income.

Have you spoken to a financial advisor? The idea of lease vs buy is interesting. I really like to keep my money in the stock market and pay a small monthly payment rather than plunk all my money down on a car. The Toyota LE versions are the best deals around. They don't have all the bells and whistles but they have the same engines and transmissions as the more expensive trims. Avalon is a Japanese Buick. The older boxier ones are very nice and soft.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by JohnG
Nobody has ever been criticized for buying a Toyota.

Rav4 for those Pgh hills!


A RAV4 would be fine in the Burgh, just be aware from 2013 on the 2.5 4 cylinder is the only choice. Nothing wrong with it, we fine it capable.

The 2016 refresh is a more refined car that the previous with better NVH control. The 2019 + Gen 5 has had some problems.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by JohnG
Nobody has ever been criticized for buying a Toyota.

Rav4 for those Pgh hills!


A RAV4 would be fine in the Burgh, just be aware from 2013 on the 2.5 4 cylinder is the only choice. Nothing wrong with it, we fine it capable.

The 2016 refresh is a more refined car that the previous with better NVH control. The 2019 + Gen 5 has had some problems.


What problems? Just bought a 2020 so I'd like to know what to look for before warranty expires.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by JohnG
Nobody has ever been criticized for buying a Toyota.

Rav4 for those Pgh hills!


A RAV4 would be fine in the Burgh, just be aware from 2013 on the 2.5 4 cylinder is the only choice. Nothing wrong with it, we fine it capable.

The 2016 refresh is a more refined car that the previous with better NVH control. The 2019 + Gen 5 has had some problems.


What problems? Just bought a 2020 so I'd like to know what to look for before warranty expires.


On the RAV4world forum there seem to be quite a few owners of the Gen 5 hybrid with some sort of problem with the gas tank not wanting to fill easily and some talk of transmissions not acting properly but a reflash seems to work on the trannys. If you haven't noticed anything then you're probably fine.

 

[fdcg27]

If a soft ride on rough pavement as well as plenty of room for a taller driver matter to you, drive a Subaru Forester.
We find the car to be very compliant on rough pavement as well as very economical in its use of fuel.
The '17 Forester averaged 29+ mpg over its first 30K of use, so not bad at all.
Of course, our Accord Hybrid averaged nearly 48 mpg over its first 20K, but you've said that the Accord has too rough a ride on broken pavement for you and it isn't as plush as the Subaru in our experience.
With the downstroke you're talking about it'll be no problem getting down to a low monthly payment on whatever you decide to buy.

 

[CourierDriver]

Dear Jim, OP, you and I are really victims of adult Attention deficit disorder,,lol,,,,maybe , but that intro was way to long.....take a calming pill and rewrite that thing....helping someone pick out a car is like helping someone pick out socks or undies....it cant be done imho....men are to helpfull and we know everything.....most likely you will pick out a car of your own choosing , its really the only way,,most times folks do not use logic , they go on feelings...............ok,,good luck, that was my nickels worth

 

[kschachn]

Hopefully since it’s been a year since that was posted he’s found a car by now.

 

[AutoMechanic]

What did you end up with?

 

[dblshock]

A 2013-2016 Lexus ES350 would be my recommendation. I'm also 6'4" and am very comfortable in that car. It has heated/cooled seats, which also help the back. Quiet ride, decent sound system, compared to other luxury cars, but when compared to other non-luxury vehicles it is a great sound system). Gets good gas mileage. Reliability is solid and it has a great ride. You should also be able to find them between $18-22k, which with what you put down should get you right near $200/mo.

Lexus has to be one of the best used car choices, their owners for the most part follow the service guide to a T and it's all recorded by Lexus and CarFax, Beyond that they're the best engineered units on earth for longevity, comfort (very adjustable) and insulation so your tunes don't shake the guy next to you at the light.

 

[dblshock]

Hopefully since it’s been a year since that was posted he’s found a car by now.

darn, I always forget to check that.

 

[Electromotive]

I got rid of our 1985 Olds 88 coupe last November, and our remaining vehicle, a 2001 Impala has 116,900 miles on it and the floor of the cab is rusting out from underneath so I have been seriously looking for a new to me vehicle, or maybe even a brand new vehicle.

I have $20,000 saved up, but would like to only put down $10,000 to $12,000 and finance the rest. I'v already unfrozen my credit reports so I can get a loan. I would like to keep the payments under $200 a month.

I have a bad back, both upper and lower problems, so a comfortable seat and a ride that absorbs bumps in the road is a big deal and one of the first things I look for in a vehicle. Also I am 6' 4" tall, so I want a vehicle that a tall person can fit in and still be comfortable.

Music is one of my main hobbies and I have a couple of hundred CD's that I want to load the best songs from onto a flash drive and play them in the next vehicle, so a quiet ride with a good sound system is a requirement. If I do buy new I would probably spend more for a premium sound system upgrade if it were available. I installed a Kenwood Music Keg with an 80 gig hard drive and over 2000 songs on it in the Olds I got rid of.

I purchased our 2001 Impala when it was 3 years old with 30,000 miles on it for $10,000 and have always changed the engine oil and filter on time, and also had a trany cooler installed on it after I bought it and changed the trany fluid and filter every 30,000 to 40,000 miles.

I take good care of any vehicle I own and expect to keep it for a long time, so I am looking for something I can do that with in the future.

98% of the driving I do is around Pittsburgh on roads that have 25 to 40 MPH speed limits, and the 2% of the time when I do travel on the parkway or a highway I do not cruse at extra high speeds. So I do not need something with a lot of extra horse power that drinks more fuel than a smaller engine version of the same vehicle.

Our Impala has been having many mechanical problems the last 3 years and has cost more than $1000 each year in repairs, the last 3 years. And both the summer set of tires and the winter set of Blizzaks only have about one more season left on them so it would be nice to get rid of the Impala before I have to buy two new sets of tires for it.

I was seriously looking for a Toyota Camry because it still had the older generation 6 speed trany, and Toyota has a reputation as a reliable car that last a long time if you take regular care of them. At my age reliability is a big thing in a vehicle. I do not care for something with enough horse power to cruze at 100 MPH or more. I was hoping to maybe pick up a couple of year old vehicle with low miles and a carfax showing regular oil changes. I have been looking on autotrader, car sense, car gurus, car.com, car max, and blue knob. And look at the carfax on any vehicle I am interested in if the carfax is available, and pay attention to if it had the oil changed when it should have. I have seen young drivers not change oil and damage engines many times and do not want to buy someone elses problem.

Research on Toyota nation, the internet in general, and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration web site www.NHTSA.gov shows some very scary complaints about the most recent generation of Camry. There are many post about owners being very upset with the new 8 speed transmission jerking. And some post about the vehicle hesitating and not moving much when they press on the accelerator and some post that after it hesitates it lurches forward. There are a few post about steering problems and brake failure. These are some very scary things and make me not want a 2018,2019,2020 Camry even though it gets great gas millage which would be nice.

I seriously looked at 2017 Camry and have seen some on autotrader with less than 15,000 miles located within 200 miles from me, and then a reply to my post about them by Cdn17Sport6MT pointed out that the 2017 6 speed trany uses a lock up torque converter and when it gets enough miles on it it begins to chatter, then fails and scatters parts into the trany and destroys the trany. That does not sound like a vehicle I can expect to keep for 10 to 15 years.

I have looked at some Nissan Altimas and am not sure about the reliability of their CVT's

I am thinking about something with a normally aspirated 4 cylinder for the better gas millage but that is not written in stone.

Probably not a turbo because of the lower life expectant, non linear throttle response, and turbo lag.

After ruling out the Camry and questioning the Altima, I looked at the Corolla, maybe a new LE with an upgrade sound system. Great gas millage. In the past Toyota made a reliable CVT while many other such as Nissan had serious problems with CVT's which makes me question the current Nissan Altima. So I looked up the Corolla on the NHTSA site and Toyota Nation forum. Because the 2020 Corolla has not been out that long I searched for 2019 TOYOTA CAMRY on the NHTSA site. Very scary stuff, break failure, engines stopping or not accelerating, fender falling off repeatably, people feeling so unsafe they turn the vehicle back into the dealer even though they take a financial loss.

So what other vehicle has a nice ride for someone with a bad back, and is something you can buy a few years old and hold onto for a long time. Honda is known for a good CVT so I stopped by a local Honda dealer and took their largest car for a test ride. A 2017 Accord. A nice sales person came along, I drove. The CVT was nice, and the car had enough power. The throttle response was linear and easy to control and it pulled with plenty enough power when going up a hill, and the car steered and braked nice. Easy to control and I fit well in the comfortable seat and the car was big enough inside with the seat all the way back. The sales person had me take a route of roads she knew and some of those roads had some rough patches where the asphalt had been repaired in may locations. When we drove over the rough patches of road, what a bone rattler. Not something for someone with a bad back. I felt every bump and they did not feel good. And when we got onto the main road and got up to 45 MPH what a noisy vehicle. I could literally hear the air turbulence outside the vehicle around the drivers side window. When we got back to the dealer she introduced me to the main sales manager. He asked me what I though of the vehicle. I told him that it had too rough of a ride and did not absorb bumps in the road enough for a person with a bad back, and it was too noisy. He asked the sales woman what vehicle had we used and then he told me that that was the base model. The upper end models are quieter. I asked him what about the ride of the upper end models. He said it is the same as the base model, and would still be as bumpy on bad roads.

I guess if you go from a 3000 Lb Impala to a 1700 Lb car it is going to have a much rougher ride. So I guess I will be looking for something 3000 Lb or heavier.

I checked out the Subaru Impreza on the NHTSA site looking at 2019 and older and they also have problems. One of the things I do is go on Wikipedia and look up what years a certain generation of a vehicle is / were made and check vehicle of that same generation.

I realize that with any vehicle, with hundreds of thousands of any model year on the road there are going to be problems, but when the same complaint is listed by many people for the same vehicle generation then something is going on. Also even if only a few have reported a problem with a particular vehicle if that problem is something very serious such as steering failure, or brake failure, or the engine stalling while the vehicle is going at a high rate of speed on a highway and the vehicle coming to a sudden stop and possibly causing an accident than that is a serious problem.

I may have to abandon the idea of getting a car and look at SUVs to get a safe vehicle with a nice ride. I understand Honda makes some nice SUVs.

So what vehicle should I be considering for something safe, with a good ride, reliable, low maintenance, and able to be keep for many years with regular maintenance?

A 2015 or so price range Kia Soul is a really practical vehicle. Easy to get in/out of, decent amount of room, easy to maintain, and good on gas mileage.

 

[PimTac]

A 2015 or so price range Kia Soul is a really practical vehicle. Easy to get in/out of, decent amount of room, easy to maintain, and good on gas mileage.

Too late. He shows a VW badge in his profile.

 

[SatinSilver]

He bought a 2016 Honda CRV and had a big write up on it with a new thread created. It‘s been awhile though. He mentions the car a lot when people ask abt what new car to get.

 

[vavavroom]

I think a Bentley Flying Spur Estate Car would be ideal. Comfy, roomy, even for the dogs. AWD. Prestige and a formidable road presence are included in the slightly higher than hoped for base price and fuel economy may not meet your expectations. The Bentley does tick however all other boxes, I think. You can get this shooting brake even with rustic and very tastefully done (imitation or real?) wood siding. Slightly used but highly customized for only 10% of the original purchase price.

Bentley Shooting Brake

 

[Silverado12]

A 2015 or so price range Kia Soul is a really practical vehicle. Easy to get in/out of, decent amount of room, easy to maintain, and good on gas mileage.

Oh no it's not. I maintain one for a friend and it has 110,000 miles on it w/metal in the oil last time I changed it. I told her about the issues they were having with their motors and maybe it will be covered. Edit: hers is a 2018.

 

[CKN]

Fall in front of the altar of the Crown Vic.....