Car Talk
The VodkaFamily car-buying experience continues.
Last night we went to the local Jeep-Chrysler dealer to test drive the Liberty, Grand Cherokee, and the Pacifica.
One look told us everything we needed to know about the Liberty — too small to be the hauler Melissa needs. So we didn’t even ask to drive it. If the back seats need to go down just to make a trip to Sam’s Club, and you’ve got two adults in front. . . then what, the baby has to ride on the luggage rack? Bad enough the little un(?)conceived bugger will get his first sunburn at six months, riding around town in daddy’s convertible.
Melissa drove the Grand Cherokee Limited around the way, and was impressed. Nice ride, pretty damn good pick-up for a medium-size SUV (thanks to the 4.7 liter V-8), and the leather is first rate. I
My wife and I tried everything, and settled on Buick Rendezvous. Not bad, but we would rather have had the Tahoe or Yukon.
The Ultimate Family Sedan
Stephen Green is shopping for a family SUV and tries his hand at automobile review. Despite the fact that his family consists of himself, a wife plus a tiny percentage of a third adult, space and cargo capacity, along with…
Forget the Explorer! My sister’s Explorer spontaneously combusted in their garage just before Christmas. Just about burned the whole house down. Ford said sorry. That was it. It was a faulty carburator (?) and Ford admitted that it was a known problem but short of a small reimbursement check that didn’t even cover the cost of the car that was all they had to say.
Skip the Ford and go right to the Pacifica!
So, while you were shopping, we were buying… yes, the rover is gone and we now have a new saturn (yes, i know that hardly compares to a ne SUV of any flavor!) But, alas, Matt got his first brand new car ever, so yay.
By the way, did I mention that I got into vet school???!!!???!!!
~A
I’ve put 30,000 miles on a company Cherokee in the last year (a 2000 Sport) and my one complaint is that the harsh ride gets to me on a long drive like the 150 miles I have to run yet tonite. No proof, but I suspect it caused my eyeball floater problem. The Grand may have a little different damping, but I would suggest you look into this before deciding.
Don’t get leather seats w/the tax deduction.
The car seat and baby droppings will ruin them.
Sandy P: Don’t get leather seats … The car seat and baby droppings will ruin them.
We’ve found that leather works well with a baby. After 3 years, our BMW w/ black leather needs just a wipe with a wet cloth to remove dried milk and crumbs. Don’t place the car seat directly on leather, but on a towel or better yet a square of slightly sticky plastic mesh like that used to hold carpets.
Still waiting for an opinion: would buying the DaimlerChrysler PT Cruiser violate the Axis of Weasel Boycott? Do we still need to boycott Germany, or are they behaving better?
http://happycarpenter.blogs.com/the_happy_carpenter/2004/02/like_the_vodka_.html
Maybe you should broaden your search. SUV’s are OK, but why not something besides that Rx8 to put a smile on VodkaWife’s face?
The daughter picked the Pacifica because it was not a mini-van (not a babe vehicle). Perfect for her new family of three. Has the luxury car ambiance. Very happy with her choice abetted by the fact that dealers are dealing with selling this car.
I have owned three Expeditions and may not ever drive another vehicle. They are awesome. Give it a try.
The new Trailblazers are fabulous, never expected something so nice when I first climbed in. OnStar might be a feature to consider for emergencies, reallt revolutonary.
Try the Lexus SUV- my friend bought one and it is just a fantastic car.
Stephen,
A couple of observations. Buying anything new is a money-losing proposition, the depreciation will kill ya. And, getting a domestic just because there is an affinity deal may be a false economy in the long run. Free country, the choice is yours.
SUV’s are hogs to drive, and not much fun. Pacifica is really a minivan that weighs too much. Magnum might be interesting (can’t beat a wagon for practicality, see Audi Avants & Saab 9-5 wagons for proof), but pretty unknown at this point.
Jeeps are service problems for every owner I know, and there is a new Grand Cherokee due before year end.
Personally, I would ride the depreciation curve differently, a three or four year old Volvo wagon, Saab 9-5, or Passat wagon can be had cheap and with normal care will last forever, at a much lower total cost to buy and own.
Spending my own money on new, it would probably be a very reliable crossover, like Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander. Those would beat any of the domestics on total cost to own, even after Melissa’s discount, and be more fun to drive.
Your money, your choice. Have fun deciding!
We have an ’02 Trailblazer. Great truck. Fine ride, very powerful, and decent gas mieage. Have taken two 3,000+ mile trips, and get about 22 mpg. With 275 HP. You can’t touch that with a Chrysler or anything else comparable. 30,000 miles now with minimal problems. Run Mobil 1 and change every 11-12,000 miles. And something you haven’t mentioned–price. We have the LS with all option packages (AC,Cruise, PW/PL, CD etc), and paid $22,000. I thought of getting one for me too, but drive 185 miles per day in my commute and want better mileage. We have the dark green. Color wears well too.
I still say you should hold out for the Saabaru / Subaraab. Saab is 100% owned by GM, and Subaru is an equity affiliate (I think GM owns around 10%.) It will be badged as a Saab, and I know that Saabs qualify for GM employee discounts.
Can I ask one little question here? Why an SUV? Are you going to be doing a lot of off-roading? Is there a reason that a more fuel-efficient vehicle that would do less damage to others in an accident wouldn’t be acceptable? I know it’s the God-given right of all of us true-blue Republicans to drive monolithic vehicles that swallow oceans worth of sweet fertile crescent crude on subsidized highways, but just because we can, do we have to?
I suppose one more on the road can’t hurt. But it might be nice for our air, for our trade balance, for our insurance bills, for our appetite for middle eastern oil, and for our ability to see past other vehicles on the road if there were a few less.
Whatever you decide, I recommend against the Explorer. I had one, and the ride was brutal, the check engine light was the one thing in my life I could count on, the brakes bailed on me every nine months or so, and I had to rip the alarm wires out with pliers to get the thing to shut off. (If your hypocrisy detector just went off, reset it. I bought it in Virginia to take to Haiti, where 4WD is a survival mechanism.)
Good luck.
Not enough room in the Liberty?? And to think our parents struggled with all those kids and so little car. It was probably uphill both ways to the Sam’s Club then, too.
I boiught a Pacifica last month, like it a lot. My situation’s a little different from yours, my ‘baby’ is 22. I agree with Seppo that it’s just a minivan masquerading as an SUV.
Steve, you need to ask yourself: What Would Jesus Drive? In my neighborhood, Jesus (the latino kid who works at Taco Bell) drives an early ’90s Integra with a giant exhaust pipe.
Stephen:
I have owned four Explorers, starting with the very first of the Explorers, a ’91, and loved every one of them. Beginning in 2002, they have independent rear suspension, and the ride and handling have been transformed! In approximately 400,000 miles of driving, I have had exactly one warranty claim. Explorer interiors are generally nicer than those of the Jeep family. My current 2003 gets 22mpg routinely. At least half that distance was driven on the much-maligned Firestone tires, in summer on the desert southwest, and in *my* experience these were the best tires I have ever ridden on.
3 comments:
a: must get leather… between having friends lose control nights when i was dd, to the dogs and them getting carsick, spewing hair everywhere, etc leather can handle anything.. it doesn’t even tear or scratch as much as you’d think
b: ive always owned jeeps, and always had good luck with them… inherited a cherokee that i drove into the ground (10 yrs, 250K miles).. everything was fine except that the brakes rusted off (canadian winters are not nice to underbodies of cars… salt is used in mass quantities due to repeated freeze thaws…) currently working on a 6 year old gc that has 150k miles on it.. it’s been from toronto to california several times, lots of constrution sites and mountains… takes on anything
c: as im sure you know, gc just aren’t that big. sure i can get the thing really full, but it requires putting down the back seat (at least the 60/40) which you can’t do in any fashion with a car seat. get a sub or a navigator for the cargo room (or maybe the avalanche or envoy xuv)… much better for all purposes… i’d avoid the pickups, as you need to shovel them out and you CS kids see a bunch of snow
When you get a bit more information and start to narrow your list down, be sure to go to intellichoice.com and compare the ownership cost estimates of your choices. You might be suprised to see that unless your discounts put the price well below dealer cost that there are some other brands that you might want to consider.
Have fun and Good Luck!
If you are thinking about the Trailblazer, look at the GMC Envoy. The differences bring it pretty close to the Avalanche, but in a bit smaller frame. The midgate, great for containing messy stuff in the back, power mid and rear glass and power rear roof retract. I don’t know how it rides, but the Avalanche I have rides better than any truck I have ever been in. Or, if you need the full size truck room, look at the Avalanche itself. Due to Factory transmission choice, be really careful in Towing Load Capacity.
If you haven’t already, VP, you might have a look at the New Car Test Drive site,
http://www.nctd.com.
As an ex-used car salesman, I have one piece of advice.
Friends don’t let friends drive Chryslers. Unless you plan on keeping it less than 4 years. Check out 5 year old Chryslers when you are looking at new ones.
You’ll see; squeaks, rattles, fluid leaks, a very lengthy service history and an amazing drop in value. There’s a reason used Chryslers are cheap.
I stopped liking Chrysler in 1973. 1972 and earlier were some of the finest automobiles ever. Chrysler never figured out the catalytic converter. Too bad.
I’m a Honda person myself, but I like Ford and GM trucks. My brother sold Chryslers and he and his boyfriend bought a Durango. They hated it.
If you aren’t dead set against imports, check out the Nissan Armada. It’s about the same price as the Pacifica, but nicer. Lots of room and amenities.
Our family recently got bigger, however, we we’re up to five, not three. When we went looking for a new vehicle (two carseats and a 6 year old with two adults don’t fit in a pickup very well) we looked at the Explorer, Expedition, Durange, and Sequoia. We ended up with the Sequoia with leather. The leather for the reasons listed above. It’s much easier to clean when the kids spill stuff on it than cloth is. The main thing though, was the options the seating gave us in the Sequoia that the others didn’t. It has the 3rd row, which is good for keeping the “He/She’s touching me” to a minimum, and the third row is a 50/50 split, that comes out completely. This allows us to leave one of the car seats on the third row while still giving us room for all the stuff a baby and a toddler add to the luggage required for a trip to grandma’s. Also by having a 50/50 split, one person can get the third row out, unlike my sister-in-law’s Expedition. It takes two people to get the third row seat out of her truck. The middle row is a 60/40 split that folds up for even mroe room if you need it. This may not be real important to you now, though, but this was our reasons for choosing what we did.