Time for a new AWD

[zerosoma]

Got rid of my Hyundai last summer and realized I'll be needing some AWD soon. My work requires a lot of driving on shift in some neighborhoods and steep hills. Right now I've got it narrowed down to 3 choices based on what I'm looking for in a vehicle. I'm pretty much looking for luxury because I've been spoiled on my Hyundai Santa Fe LX and my Toyota Solara SLE which are both premium packages. Plus - ever since I drove a Lexus I can't get them out of my head. First one is a 2001 Lexus RX300 with 165,000 miles. Had its transmission replaced 2 years ago. I guess it's common for them to go out on these. Timing belt also looks good on this. Needs new tires though. Clean title. Good shape overall, price is $3,500. Main draw to this one is price. Second one is a 2007 Lexus RX 350 with 115,000 miles. Has remote start. Just had the spark plugs and coil packs replaced last week, which I understand is the most expensive job for this vehicle ($800). Runs on a timing chain not a belt so that's easy enough. This has a previously salvaged, restored title due to a front-end collision once upon a time. This vehicle does not have an auxiliary jack (or a tape player for a tape adapter) which is weird, but I'll have one installed aftermarket (as a rabbit trail, anyone have any opinions on one of those auxiliary plug in head units that use the FM transmitter that go straight into the back of the stereo head?). The condition is almost flawless. Seems to be very well taken care of. Price is $6,800. Main draw to this one is the condition and price for the mileage of this vehicle. Third one is a 2011 Honda CRV EX with 44,000 miles. This one is also previously salvaged - due to hail. There is some light peppering on the hood and a couple of good dents on the rear door frame as well as a couple top dents. Now granted, this doesn't have the heated leather seats I'm looking for, but the low mileage is extremely attractive to me and it has a tight feel. it does have a couple other features I'm looking for which is an auxiliary jack and a sunroof. I have heard that the air conditioning compressor can go out on these quite often and it can cost as much as $1,300 to replace. When I tested it the air conditioning was not working and he said he was going to recharge the refrigerant. obviously wouldn't buy this one unless the air conditioning was working, but the price on this is $9,000 with a tiny bit of wiggle room for haggling (thinking probably $8,700). Main draw to this one is the low miles and high mpg. Some extra thoughts : I know Lexus can be a pain in the [censored] to work on (even basic maintenance), and the CRV is attractive to me because generally Honda is easy to work on. The Lexus RX model line is honestly THE smoothest vehicle I've ever driven. The 2001 RX scares me to death that I'm going to end up without a transmission in two years. The 2007 RX still has over 100k for over $6,000 which is kind of a discomfort since I've never owned a Lexus (but a few Toyota) and I'm not sure how it's going to be when it gets up to 175-200k. Plus I'm thinking, there's a car with less than half the miles in my choices, perhaps it would be silly to go for one with this many miles with that being considered. The 2011 Honda I'm worried about the FOMO of not having the heated leather electric seats and buttery smooth ride like the Lexus does. I haven't checked with my Federal Credit Union yet to see if they would finance a previously salvaged vehicle. Also one final thought, how are Mazda/Infiniti for reliability? I've heard their AWD is pretty good. Just wondering if I could pick all your brains to see what you all thought.

 

[skyactiv]

You have three vehicles in your signature. Can you get a 2nd set of wheels, install winter tires on them for one of those vehicles?

 

[macarose]

Go to 48 Hours and A Used Car on Facebook, and you'll definitely see a few. My advice is to hit 'em where they ain't and choose a brand that isn't known for AWD but has the right quality components. Older salvage vehicles with recent accidents are fine, but you're playing roulette with the recent salvage vehicles unless you know who repaired it.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Also, if you ever plan on selling it down the road, the salvage title will most likely be a bear to get rid of.

 

[zerosoma]

Originally Posted by skyactiv

You have three vehicles in your signature. Can you get a 2nd set of wheels, install winter tires on them for one of those vehicles?

Fixed. The Hyundai is sold and the 2018 RAV4 is my wife's which she doesn't let me drive often

 

[supton]

How often will you need AWD? I mean, you don't "need" AWD all winter around here--there can be weeks where the most we get is a dusting. Sure, there can be a week solid of snow every day, but that's not for weeks on end. Don't know your climate. Reason being, yeah it's nice to have luxury. But could you get a beater Subaru with snows and only drive it when it's actually bad? Drive your other car the rest of the time. Up here I've done that the last year or so with my vehicles, going as far as to leave all seasons on my sedan--if it snows, or threatens to snow, I take the truck.

 

[ZZman]

No Subaru in the mix?

 

[JeffKeryk]

Yeah, don't drive an AWD RX cuz you will be spoiled. I would not buy a salvaged vehicle. Lexus with proper service is a safe bet. I would spend more and get something newer, if your budget can afford it.

 

[diyjake]

I would probably lean towards the RX 350, talk him down to 6K. I wouldn't even recommend the 01 RX.

 

[meep]

2001 lexus, no brainer to me. It already has a refreshed trans so that's ok. For the low price, you can put the other 3k in savings, and it's there if you need it. I'm not aware of the trans being a weak spot in these. I'm not opposed to rebuilt vehicles, but the one's I've known have been more prone to quirks. That, and that's a lot of $ for a salvaged title, regardless of how clean. The CRV would be my second choice. As a long time honda family, I'm not aware of frequent compressor replacements. We've got a civic with over 340,000 on it using the original compressor. We've probably had 6-8 hondas in the family and none have had compressor problems. I didn't see the asking price, however, on your option.

 

[supton]

Our 2001 Civic needed a/c repairs every other year. At the 8 or 9 year mark it quit and the dealer said the entire system needed replacing. Asking around I got told by a few trusted mechanics that this was entirely plausible. Traded with dead a/c at the 10 year mark. Of course, that was 20 years ago... but I still don't like Honda. At the risk of being flamed, I'd look at your budget and then see what it'd take to have a couple grand in a repair kitty. None of these are new, all potentially need (snow) tires if you are worried about traction. If you have to finance (which you mention), again the risk of being flamed, I'd go newer, maybe even CPO. Less risk. More expensive of course, but I'm not sure if you need absolute reliability with no repairs, or what. If that's too much, then I'd go the other way, as interest rates are awful on old cars. Cash and carry, and save up for a future better vehicle. Just my opinion. If you have two Toyota's, is there any advantage to a third? Similar tools, similar fluids, same scan tool, etc.

 

[zerosoma]

Originally Posted by meep

2001 lexus, no brainer to me. It already has a refreshed trans so that's ok. For the low price, you can put the other 3k in savings, and it's there if you need it. I'm not aware of the trans being a weak spot in these. I'm not opposed to rebuilt vehicles, but the one's I've known have been more prone to quirks. That, and that's a lot of $ for a salvaged title, regardless of how clean. The CRV would be my second choice. As a long time honda family, I'm not aware of frequent compressor replacements. We've got a civic with over 340,000 on it using the original compressor. We've probably had 6-8 hondas in the family and none have had compressor problems. I didn't see the asking price, however, on your option.

Probably $8700 with some haggling ($9k right now). Just called my bank and it looks like I be looking at a 6.5% interest rate for a salvage vehicle instead of 3.5% for a clean title. So you think that 2001 Lexus RX would be "safe" with a recent transmission replacement? That's what I really want but I'm mainly worried about the transmission. that, and the eventual timing belt replacement.

 

[KCJeep]

Unless you have an unusual financial institution, financing anything with a salvage title is out of the question. You will most likely need to come up with the cash. Must you have an SUV? AWD used luxury sedans are plentiful and much better values, meaning you will get more vehicle (years and miles) than you would with an SUV for the same money. That is exactly how I ended up with my AWD Lincoln, I simply could not afford another Jeep at the time.

 

[KrisZ]

You say you want luxury and are looking at a CR-V penalty box? And not just any penalty box, a salvage title penalty box. A Lexus on a second tranny is now called a Lexus with a "refreshed" transmission and a solid choice at that Another Lexus with a salvage title is also a "no brainier". Lol, I wish lived in such a blissful ignorance.

 

[IndyIan]

It was the 2003-2005 CRV's that would destroy the whole AC system with a compressor failure. We had an 06 that needed a recharge once in nearly 200k miles, and that was it. Probably I would go for the CRV of those 3 but do some comparisons on clean title ones. Maybe you can work the price down a bit. Also why are you borrowing money for the CRV? I guess odds are you won't have a significant repair on it, but it is out of warranty as well. If you are stretching for it, I'd get a sedan with some good snow tires with some money left over. On the highway AWD does nothing for you anyways.

 

[zerosoma]

Originally Posted by KrisZ

You say you want luxury and are looking at a CR-V penalty box? And not just any penalty box, a salvage title penalty box. A Lexus on a second tranny is now called a Lexus with a "refreshed" transmission and a solid choice at that Another Lexus with a salvage title is also a "no brainier". Lol, I wish lived in such a blissful ignorance.

I was like, why do I have KrisZ on ignore? Now I remember.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I had an '06 RAV4 V6 and its AWD system was fairly crude, but basically functional. I'm not sure it the Lexus RX350 (a very similar vehicle overall mechanically) would have the same system, but I'd be willing to bet that they have some commonality. The big downside was a major (~$3500 roughly 10 years ago) repair to the AWD system, I had a persistent fluid leak and an independent Toyota shop tracked it down to a cracked coupler...I used to have pics but don't know where to look for them now. The shop's explanation was that the AWD system routed power from front to back too abruptly when the front tires slipped and caused extreme stress on this coupler in the V6 models...I clearly remember this happening and it made turns on ice really interesting at first, that back end would come around with some authority! The solution was to hit the electronic 4WD button on the dash, this mode worked pretty well but would shut itself at 25mph...not very helpful when climbing a hill. The shop told me that many customers had issues just from their front wheels slipping on wet crosswalk markings. If the RX350 had a different AWD system than the RAV4, I guess you can ignore all this! You might also want to do some googling on the CRV AWD, a Swedish car magazine tested it extensively at one point and claimed that it shouldn't even be called AWD...it was unable to move the car when the front tires were placed on rollers on a very mild incline. Good luck!

 

[slacktide_bitog]

You should consider a Matrix or Vibe AWD. They are still Toyota, but much easier to work on than the RX300. The 1MZ in the RX300 is very hard to work on and prone to sludge, one of the few non-European non-turbo engines that actually needs a 3k OCI with synthetic The Suzuki Aerio SX, and the later SX4, are also both good choices. It was the lowest-priced AWD car when it was new. Suzuki also offered AWD on the Kizashi midsize sedan. Heated seats were available. I also agree with everyone else on here that says to avoid a salvage title and that AWD isn't really necessary. FWD with good winter tires will be more than enough. If you can't have a second set of tires for winter, you can at least use one of those all-season tires with the 3-peak "all weather tires" such as the Nokian WRG4. Most banks will not finance a salvage car.

 

[andyd]

wabbout a good ol' 'Murrican suv? . A modern version of the grand Wagoneer? The NP 219 and 229 transfer cases with a viscous coupler were so smooth. Whats the going price for a well sorted Durango, or Expedition? GM flavor? Sacrifice MPG for cormfort and traction. My daughter's job requires her to be present regardless of the weather. So far so good with her Volvo XC90

 

[Virtus_Probi]

People that live in flat areas that get snow might say that FWD is fine with winter tires. If you have to deal with hills, throw that bad advice out the window. People with FWD in my neighborhood have to walk up the hill in a bad storm no matter what kind of tires they have. Those who don't get snows crash going down the hill on ice no matter what the drive system is. Ask me how I know!