Sister Looking For New Reliable Suv Under 30,000

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We are going on Saturday (worst day for car dealers very busy) Its either the chevy traverse or the larger Santa fe which i know nothing about. I assume the reliability is good on the santa fe because my 2 are great but i did not even see the new ones yet so if anyone knows anything about their reliability i would love to hear from them. My sister thinks because i own an engine shop and am around cars all day i know everything but like i told her i am not sure i ever saw the new bigger ones i think they are around the size of my 2011 but im not sure
 
I'm sorry but those are two of the least reliable SUVs you can buy right now... Santa Fe (ESPECIALLY THE TURBO) was the worst model for Hyundai in 2014. The Traverse isn't nearly as awful, but it's a bit below average for reported and predicted reliability.
 
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The Equinox and Terrain are bigger than most of its competitors (Rav4, CRV, Outback, CX-5) and are really nice. Though I like how the CX-5 handles the best. We have a 2010 4 cylinder Equinox. We have had some engine trouble that fortunately was covered under warranty. And I still don't trust the engine to not need another major repair.

That said, other than wear items the only other problems have been the latch on the tailgate went bad ($140 and an hour to replace) and one of the tailgate gas shocks went bad ($40 and 2 min. to replace, but the other is rusted as was the one that went bad so I'm going to replace the other one as well).

I would not hesitate to buy a 6 cylinder Equinox or Terrain if you can get a good deal. Even though the 4 cyl engine problems have apparently been fixed as of 2013 models, it is still underpowered.

Ford Edge is another one to look at.
 
I dont know i have a 1010 santa fe v6 and a 2011 santa fe v6 in my family and both have been great. I don't know about the 2014 but hyundai has a great warranty and its on them to fix anything that is under warranty.
 
This isn't quite what you're looking for but I went through the search last fall with a $20,000 target. Found a 2007 4WD Tahoe with only 55,000 miles, excellent interior, needed tires, shocks and a CEL resolved. Cost me $2000 to get up to snuff. But I LOVE this full size SUV and it keeps the new Camaro Vert in the garage til spring.
 
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It is a shame that because of one lemon of a Honda she had, she completely discounts a very reliable and functional SUV like the Honda CRV. Every car maker screws up once in a while.
But...since she now wants a V-6 SUV in a sub-$30k package....her choices and reliability will be a bit tough.

Good luck to her.
 
she is leaning towards the Hyundai because of the warranty. She can afford anything she wants and i mean anything but she wants something that has no drama. Honda changed a lot over the years we see many of them in the engine shop when in the eighties we saw very few. Honda is a good vehicle but not as good as they were not even close. We have a 2010 Honda in the shop with a bad engine that has a bad casting and this is not the first. This one has 70,000 dealer maintained miles. The last one had less same problem (that guy won $8,000 from Honda through lemon law)
Every car company has problems but having the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty helps. The suv she picked out is about $40,000
I see a lot of Hyundais in upscale driveways in my area because people are getting fed up with the drama of high end cars, including her. the Honda was not really a lemon it had transmission issues and when she dropped it off there were others that had the same problem.

Honda also is having engine problems that we have been aware of for some time now on newer vehicles in a matter of fact Honda just settled a very large class action lawsuit over 1.6 million or more defective v6 engines
 
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
she is leaning towards the Hyundai because of the warranty. She can afford anything she wants and i mean anything but she wants something that has no drama. Honda changed a lot over the years we see many of them in the engine shop when in the eighties we saw very few. Honda is a good vehicle but not as good as they were not even close. We have a 2010 Honda in the shop with a bad engine that has a bad casting and this is not the first. This one has 70,000 dealer maintained miles. The last one had less same problem (that guy won $8,000 from Honda through lemon law)
Every car company has problems but having the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty helps. The suv she picked out is about $40,000


I see a lot of Hyundais in upscale driveways in my area because people are getting fed up with the drama of high end cars, including her. the Honda was not really a lemon it had transmission issues and when she dropped it off there were others that had the same problem.


Wow! What happened to the under $30K idea? Now it's $40K??

For that kind of money it had better be reliable. But a Hyundai for $40k?

If money isn't an issue, why not just get the SUV she likes the looks and features of and then purchase an additional comprehensive extended warranty to cover everything for 100k miles? Buying a $40k Hyundai certainly doesn't relieve any more "drama" than buying any other SUV with the same warranty.

I don't know....just my opinion here but she doesn't really seem to know what she really wants other than the "no drama" desire.
 
That is what she wants and it is really nice looking we are going Monday to finalize the deal. I like them i see very few Hyundais in my engine shop probably because the warranty is so good. I like them and i had BMW Mercedes and lexus and actually the lexus was great but the others were not they were nice but not problem free and the 2003 range rover was the absolute worst of them all.
Hyundai is not what it used to be in 1988 they have changed dramatically and during the test drive this Hyundai feels like it could run circles around the others we tested. The other thing is there is less of a chance of some stupid car thief getting shot if someone tries to carjack her.
 
Well...as long as she is happy with it then that is all that matters.

I'm certainly no authority on what suv will be the most reliable.....nor have I ever owned a Hyundai.

I hope it all works out great for her.
 
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
she is leaning towards the Hyundai because of the warranty. She can afford anything she wants and i mean anything but she wants something that has no drama. Honda changed a lot over the years we see many of them in the engine shop when in the eighties we saw very few. Honda is a good vehicle but not as good as they were not even close. We have a 2010 Honda in the shop with a bad engine that has a bad casting and this is not the first. This one has 70,000 dealer maintained miles. The last one had less same problem (that guy won $8,000 from Honda through lemon law)
Every car company has problems but having the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty helps. The suv she picked out is about $40,000
I see a lot of Hyundais in upscale driveways in my area because people are getting fed up with the drama of high end cars, including her. the Honda was not really a lemon it had transmission issues and when she dropped it off there were others that had the same problem.

Honda also is having engine problems that we have been aware of for some time now on newer vehicles in a matter of fact Honda just settled a very large class action lawsuit over 1.6 million or more defective v6 engines


Wow, times have really changed. I thought upscale might mean Mercedes, either ML or GL. I think in the 40k range there's also the GLK. And course there's always BMW and Lexus. I wouldn't really think Hyundai would be considered upscale.

I'd rather get a used BMW or Mercedes than a new car, but that's just me. One thing with used cars is that you can research the forums and get a feel for what type of problems it might have. You don't really have that with a new car, too new to tell, no history. Plus the great thing about upscale cars is that they have tremendous depreciation, you can drive a car that's 3-5 years old for about 40-60% off list price.
 
What about a Ford Explorer? I have a 2013 that I picked up new for $26,500. It seats 7 (with its 3rd row) and is a really nice vehicle on the inside. Mine is FWD and it does pretty good in the MN snow too.

I've only put 20K miles on mine but so far so good...

I had a Hyundai from 2007-2012. It was pretty reliable up to about 115K miles, after that it started having some expensive suspension/alignment issues and the motor developed a "tick" so I dumped it.

One thing to keep in mind is resale value. A 8 year old Ford will more than likely hold its resale way better than a Hyundai. My Hyundai was 4 years old when I sold it and it lost 2/3's of its value.
 
I think in general terms Hyundai resale has risen with the the rise of the brand over the last 5 years. By KBB, it appears at the 3 and 5 year mark the Santa FE GLS currently has a slightly higher resale than the Explorer XLT. To me, 8 or 10 year old resale value for most vehicles isn't anything anyway so it might depend on if you typically keep your vehicles for more than 5-6 years. I used to run vehicles into the ground but with the median price rising so much in recent years, I've used the 5-6 year mark as the sweet spot for a new vehicle.
 
What i said was i see a lot of Hyundais in upscale driveways in my area. I personally don't consider Hyundai upscle either but they do have some models that are in the $80,000 range.

Being in the engine business i think Hyundai is pretty reliable and so do a lot of former Mercedes and BMW owners that want a reliable vehicle.. I see it all the time people are fed up with the repair costs of some of these so called high end Vehicles. My sister says and i agree that a lot of the people that own those nameplates own them for status and or to show off some working 2 or 3 jobs. She does not have to do that.
 
I've driven my boss's 2011 loaded Sante Fe and its a pretty decent vehicle. Good enough power, nice seats and interior, quiet. Its not much of penalty box, compared to a lower end "luxury" SUV I think. Probably a BMW or MB drives a little "sharper" but its not like most people care about that anyways.
 
$40K Hyundai!!! Yikes!

My personal opinion is they are very expensive to repair cars compared to Honda/Toyota/GM/Ford.

Hope she enjoys the new ride.
 
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I don't think they are so expensive to fix but if they are she will have a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty..lol


The warranty covers powertrain only.......Hopefully is she is not duped into false security with that.

I have known folks who have Hyundai in last 5 years spending $1500 on things like stability control controllers and other computers for AC systems etc. The repairs are quite high IMHO for items they hit in vehicles like Azera and Sante Fe. The powertrains are flawless.
 
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