Looking for a new car..
 

I've gotten sick of the car I have and am looking for an SUV.

If I can find a buyer, I should get around 13 grand for my car.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a decent SUV?

I'm looking for value, gas miledge, solid performance.

I liked the Pontiac Torrent, but too pricey right now. I'd like to only spend around 15 grand.

Thanks for any help.

You can get into a 2001 Infinity QX4 for about that these days.

I highly recommend them.

Are you saying 15 plus the 13 you are going to get for your current ride?

If so, we have really had great luck with our Durango. It is built on a frame like a real truck unlike most of the others out there.

Those Durangos don't hold up. Eddie Sutton's flew all to pieces.

I really like the new Ford 500, it's built on an SUV frame making a big solid sedan.

4Runner, we take my buddy's to Colorado every year and its always been great.

The only thing I've had to do to my Cherokee in five and a half yers is change the u bolts.

Good luck in your search.

I really liked the Chevy Trailblazers, until I drove one. Then I fell in love with them. I'd get one if I could afford it.

http://carstreams.com/carpics/3457-P5C10.jpg

If you are looking at spending $15K, I assume you are looking for a used SUV? Probably need some more specifics to really help you out here but my wife and I just went through the whole looking for an SUV deal.

We started off looking in the $18-19K price range for something with 25k to 35k mileage. But we were looking for something a little bigger space wise and something that could tow a 21 foot boat. I currently have a Tundra which is a great truck but I made the mistake of getting a V6 and it didn't tow the boat up hill for squat.

In that price range you can probably get a middle tier SUV like a Trailblazer, Envoy or Explorer.

Personally I am a big fan of Toyota......but my wife didn't want to foot the bill for the pricey 4 Runner or Sequoia which are both nice vehicles.

We settled on a Chevy Tahoe which we fell in love with right away when we saw it. We ended up spending a little more on it than we were looking too but she liked it that much.

Whatever you choose, make sure you run a Carfax on any used vehicles. Sometimes the dealer will do this for you but if you plan on researching vehicles on the net, I highly advise buying a one month membership. It will cost you $25 for unlimited reports for a month. That $25 could save you a lot of headaches and money later on.

Oh yes, definitely a used one.

I got a great deal on a 2002 Saturn Vue back in December of 2003 and I decided to take it.

The car is alright, but since it was the first year for them, there are a lot of small problems that drive me mad.

Coincidentally, the car's value is higher right now than what I paid for it. I paid 12,500 for it, and the retail right now is close to 15.

So hopefully I can get 13 for it. I do like the Trailblazer. Enjoy's are real nice too. Me and my pops are going to look this week since he's the car expert, but I don't want to go overboard wtih the wedding on the horizon.

If you haven't already check this site out for new/used info it helped me quite a bit.

http://www.edmunds.com/

I drive a Hyundai Santa Fe... really good ride and great warrantee... they also have a Tucson that looks nice and is a little smaller

It sure did, he needs one of those "breath test" ignition systems to keep one in nice shape.

First go to Carmax-they are the best in the business. I would recommend the Nissan Pathfinder, stay away from Domestic.

lol carmax... your a joke

so r ur grmatical skillz

All pieces of shit that will depreciate to nothing after 100k or 5 years.

haha they are selling much better then the Nissan Pathfinder!

Nissan SUCKS

My guess as to why they would sell better is because they are cheaper. Just a guess.

I still like the Trailblazer, though.

I had a Vibe. It was absolutely not a piece of shit (basically a Toyota Matrix with a Pontiac grill). It was a nice car, with decent acceleration, excellent storage capacity and got good gas mileage. And unless you've actually owned one, perhaps you should STFU.

I can't recommend it for people with kids, as you either get (a) storage capacity or (b) a back seat, but not both. But for one person or a couple, it would be an excellent choice.

The only reason I don't still have it is because my common sense got ground under the wheels of the 2005 Mustang when my mid-life crisis hit.

Your and idiot!

Yeah! What Ed said!

It felt good too! ROFL

Honda Pilot.

Period. :)

Don't get your Hemi in an uproar. I hate to break it to you guys, but foreign cars hold their value better. The whole employee pricing thing killed wholesale prices on domestic auto's. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, are the best cars out there.

Sticks and stones!

DONT BUY AMERICAN

Perhaps you should move to Japan since you value their goods so much, Hirohito.

If I were young and did not have a lot of money I would look into the Mazda 6. My car was in for its 40k service recently and they gave me a Mazda 6 to drive while they worked on it. I really liked that car. Seems like it would be a great buy for a young person.

You probably are not going to break too much automotive knowledge to me, been messing with them for quite a while.

Good Night and Good Luck.

Your and idiot two.

Only if you don't want a quality vehicle with good fit and finish that will be maintenance free. If you don't want all those things by all means buy American.

By stating a fact about a product makes me unamerican? I buy and sell cars for a living, I see it every day. 100k and 5years, domestic cars have a huge depreciation.

So you don't use any products from a different country, everything you own was "Made in the USA", get off your soapbox.

You can get a used Accord with say 120k for a great price, and get another 120 k in miles and still sell the thing for a couple of grand. Try that with a Mustang.

Best inepxensive cars out there. Best cars are Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW and Lexus.


By the way Bad Guy if you can swing it the BMW X3 and X5 along with the Lexus RX are all outstanding values for SUVs that will last you a long time and maximize your driving experience.

I agree with you, but I would not want to buy a vehicle with that many miles. 30K in miles is about my max for a used vehicle.

You might want to check some data more recent than 1979 Vlad. Gawd, the defect rate differences between Asian and American cars is almost negligable and if companies like Mistubishi would report honestly they would probably be about the same.

The only cars lagging behind now in quality are the european ones, the Korean POS are actually leading.

I'm sorry but I can't take you seriously anymore. My father retired as an autoworker. I've never had a foreign car in my life and I've never had a lemon for a car either.

I also can't take a man seriously who doesnt like Skating With The Star and thinks we need to trade Gonzo because he won't sign an autograph for you. :p

Until you're man enough to sack up and come over here and knock me off my soap box, I'll say what I want, boy.

First personally I will only own European, but my I bought my kids cars new or less than a year old Toyota Celica, Mitsubishi, and a Ford Escape. The Celica and Mitsubishi are clearly superior to the Ford. Me I own a Jag so it is not really fair to compare that to a POS American car.

Actually you are the one that stated not to buy Domestic from your Soapbox, previous to that the way I see it, everyone else was making positive recommendations.

Who's that standing behind me?
Oh! It's Ed and he's got my back!
:thumb:

why because my infiniti hasnt had to go into the shop for any work besides for brakes tires and oil changes while my mothers taurus had to have a new transmission put in it with bout 40,000 less miles than mine and my sisters jeep grand cherokee limited is the biggest piece of shit and has bout the same amount of miles as the ford and its gas pump went a couple months ago and its cooling fan just went a couple weeks ago?


HAHA american cars are garbage after they hit that magic number of 100,000 miles they start to fall apart im sorry people the american glory days of cars are done with...why do you think they are remodeling their cars such as the camaros chargers and rustangs to replicas of the ones from like the 70's

ill only buy 3 makers of cars nissans toyota and bmw the rest suck ass


and dont tell me to move to japan or germany just cause i dont like american cars doesnt mean im not proud to be an american there is no place on earth that id rather live
:)

You own a Jag? ROFL ROFL Then you truly do not care about reliability, the last figures I saw prior to Ford buying them had the warranty rate in the mid 20% range. It is a status symbol with very nice fit and finish though.

Mitsubishi, holy shit. I would recommend bailing out quick while there are still people that will take it off of your hands. The Celica is a good car and so is the Escape.

You will run if your wife or loved one is being attacked by a bear, but will cowboy up, if someone that sells cars states: American cars, on average, depreciate faster than Domestic???? You havn't been making much sense lately.

I would never buy a Ford-they just don't hold their value. Jags are overpriced Contours now.

Actually the Mitsubishi is now 5 years old and has never had to have single repair, just oil changes, tires and one set of brake pads.

You have not been keeping up Jag has had the number 1 rating for maintenance now for several years. You are the one living in the 70s.

And when your decendents end up cleaning bathrooms for the new owners of this country they will thank you.

Good for you. The only MAJOR work I've had done on my Chevy is replacing a radiator. Oh ... and it's got 170,000+ miles on it and it runs like a top. It's all about the owner and how they treat their cars, not the car itself.

PS - Punctuation can be your friend.

You have been very fortunate on the Mitsubishi, the National statistics that I receive in trade magazines do not come out that way. However, just like the Tauras should not be judged by the one mentioned above, neither should your Mitsubishi.

I would be very interested in seeing the Jaquar data you are talking about, I know it has improved, but that last numbers I saw were over 20% along with the Beemer.

Damm I hate to agree with you, but your right on this. 100k and cya. Ford is the worst in the world beside maybe Kia in resale value. Taurus is nearly imposible to resale, we have 15 of the POS sitting on the lot leaking oil everywhere. Mustangs look nice, but ride like total shit. Ford trucks have been getting their asses kicked by Dodge lately, hell the Silverado holds value better than a F150. Ford has crooks for dealers, they make a shitty product, and have horrible customer service!!!!

OMG! Someone who actually thinks ahead!

It's no wonder the the people that buy foreign are blind to the consequences. They see Japanese "tourists" over here, wielding cameras and taking pictures of large buildings, thinking, "Hey, that's what Japanese tourists on vacation DO!"

In actuality, they are business men who are taking pictures of the building they are about to buy.

I drive a Ford Contour. It's what I could afford.

Yep, it may be kind of deep for someone who only thinks ahead about there trade in value. I am living a pretty good life right now because of generations before us that thought about the future of this country.

Sorry, I had one too. I bought it new, and it was in the shop 13 times the first three months. Finally with a lawsuit pending, the dealer bought it back. Ford Windstar-bad engine. Ford Ranger-brakes, electrical problems. My grandfather retired from Ford-but I would never buy another.

ive got 190,000 miles on the infiniti. i hate to admit it, but i drive like an asshole(im only 22 yo) but my mother had the tauraus and then bought the jeep because the tauraus would not pass inspection, so when my sister finally got her license a couple of months ago, she decided to fix the taurus. my mother drove both the ford and jeep not to mention that she drives under the speed limit. so i dont know buddy, your little belief seems to have some wholes in it.

Mine is a 2000. Bought it used 4 years ago. The only thing I've done besides routine mintanence is have to replace the fuel pump.

to hell they will...THEY DONT WANT HIROSHIMA PART DUEX!

Actually looking it up it is #2 in the world and #1 in European JD Power 2005 Initial Quality Study.

It is number 1 now for 2 years running in sales satisfaction by JD Power.

Come back and talk to me in another 22 years. You have no idea what the real world is yet nor the implications of your actions on your fellow Americans.

Sorry to burst your bubble junior but they are. What's ironic about it is the fact that they are using YOUR dollars to make the purchase.

America weeps.

This is getting comical-Skip will be along soon to join your team with his Yellow Jap Bastard post. Why are just talking about cars-how about China and what they are doing? Please you guys probably have 20 foreign products just in the room you are sitting in, but yet talk about "Made in the USA" crap-which is a slogan created by an american company getting outpreformed by competition.

I can almost hear "God Bless America" playing as I read your post. Or is that "Like a Rock" by Bob Segar-which describes perfectly what the value of American cars do-sink like a rock.

ill be sure to keep in touch ;) , by then "king" carl will be gone and our beloved chiefs owned by mitsobishi motors( ROFL ) will have won 4-5 suber bowls :) :) :)

Sounds like the Big Blue Oval ownership has righted the ship at that company.

Count yourself very lucky!

No one here is saying they buy American exclusively. Hell, that's impossible in this day and age. What we ARE saying is that our MAJOR PURCHASES (that would be thousands upon thousands of dollars) are AMERICAN MADE PURCHASES.

Try and keep up with the conversation instead of making false accusations and posting half truths.

have a good night folks, got to go to sleep im a bit under the weather :( , and i got to be up to go to work at my mothers arcade that we just opened up for business today

I had a QX4, but traded it in for a Nissan Armada. My wife drives a FX-35. In the price range you are looking. I like the Saturn,"VUE". Or even Hyundai's SUV.

Aren't most arcade games made in ... JAPAN!!!???

:p

You do not have enough bandwith for me to get started on my China discussion. I am afraid the horse is pretty much out of the barn on that one. Automotive and Medical are pretty much that last frontier for us to protect. Automotive due to logistics and Medical due proprietary information protection.
As far as my purchases, I make a concerted effort, without as much success as I would like to buy domestic. Last summer I went to five part stores trying to buy an American made brake rotor, with no luck. I did end up buying a Raybestos, American owned product.

So in your theory-a "Major" purchase should be made on a product that provides the worst posible investment and will cost you more on maintence, depreciation, and overall value. Makes sense to me. :banghead:

So you would buy a house- that was going to have a leaky roof, bad plumbing, cracking basement, and will drain your bank account-because it was "American" made?

ROFL ROFL ROFL i thaught taiwan :shrug:, its more like a billiards room with some arcade games

Do you even read any of my posts or just pick out the parts you want to attack?
PAY ATTENTION SON!

Sorry to burst your bubble on medical, but India is leading the world. As far as auto purchases-many only buy American because like Luv, that is all they can afford. Folks with money can get the best investment for their money by getting the best product-which is foreign. We lost the car war along time ago.

Mexicans own more property in USA than Japs, so why do they get such a bad rap? Do I really care if some rich asshole that owns a building in NY is a Jap-nope.

I'd love to continue this debate but I will, instead, opt for sleep. I will end by saying that unlike others on this thread, I support my fellow Americans in the auto making industry and will not, in good conscience, be responsible for putting them out of work. They have always given me a good product.

USA! USA! USA! USA!

I buy American housing.:D

Back to my original statement: Your and idiot! I am in the automotive and medical manufacturing business and we have not lost battle. We are doing very well thank you. We will only lose the car war if these naieve (sp) kids keep believing the Nissan salesman.

You may not care about who owns what, but your decendents will. I might suggest reading some future economic forcasts by Jeremy Seigal.

And they buy your products, funny how that works. Good Night and Good Luck. me to.

So you have one car that managed to make it against the odds, that is your basis for saying US cars are better? Like I said-I see 50 to 80 examples a day that will say different. Do you think it is just coincidence that Carmax-the biggest car retailer in the country-does not usually keep Domestic cars over 6 years or 60K in miles. If they do its called a "Valuemax" car-means it is discounted, because it is a short term asset.

As far as the Auto industry, if they were making a better product-our fellow americans would not be getting laid off after years of faithful service-it is a travesty.