Atlantic Xpat

Car discussions are possibly the most emotive subject ever on BE but here goes.....

My disdain for minivans is well known. In many respects I believe a decent estate car is a far more practival alternative. But, estate cars are rare in North America and the minivan or SUV is king.

Now I like SUV's for the high driving position, 4wheel drive (yes I know snow tires are more important than 4x4 but living where I do we gain reassurance and do practically use the 4x4 ability of our SUV.) and towing ability.

The lease on our Jeep Liberty expires shortly. It's a diesel liberty (no longer available) and aside from the usual jeep poor build quality has been a cracking car - performance and economy is good. (all things being relative, a Toyota Yaris it is not.) Replacing it with something that has a V8 is not an option. I don't want to own a F150 when gas is $2 a litre.

What to replace it with? We are a family of three, possibly 4 during the lifecycle of any new motor. As I lift Kate's car seat in and out of the narrow rear door on the Liberty I curse and contemplate wider & perhaps sliding doors with a new appreciation. But then realise that is the path towards minivan ownership and shudder.

I need to be able to tow a trailer containing one or two ATV's and thus far we have leased vehicles for a) reduced monthly payments and b) in the case of the Jeep, to ensure that we give it back the moment the warranty expires!
Leasing effectively precludes anything from GM or Chrysler. Buying over 72 months on purchase finance (a seemingly popular option these days) makes no sense in my mind either.

I have been mulling this for somewhile and have til the end of August to make the decision. What does the panel think? Any real world experiences? Anyone actually used Leasebusters?

TIA,
AX

iaink

Whats your budget?


You know what Im going to say anyway by now I suspect...

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Atlantic Xpat

Our budget is <$500 a month taxes in. Subaru Legacy might be a contender as my late father-in-law has one. Pending resolution of the estate we might buy it. A Subaru Forester is another, perhaps more realistic alternative.

iaink

Nothing to choose really between the legacy and forrester...same engines...slightly longer wheelbase on the legacy/outback, and probably the better bet for towing.

We tow with our legacy from time to time, and with the standard 2.5 its never a problem.

We have two kids seats in the back, and its not so bad. The doors are a little narrow for getting the seats in and out, but not a big deal. Kids get bigger anyway, and then you dont have to lug the whole baby carrier in and out anymore (not that it was a problem anyway). Winter traction is outstanding, handling much more responsive than my previous jeep. Fuel consumption is so so (but then its a 2.5 so not an economy car anyway) , but better than SUVs.

The only thing you would have to get used to is lower seating, but then that = lower center of gravity and better handling too.

lmartin999

http://www.audi.ca/audi/ca/en2/new_cars/Audi_A3.html

Mmmmmm....

Tuppence

I was thinking about getting rid of my SUV to save a bit of cash to pay for daycare fees, and I'm a lease only kinda gal - low payments, get bored after 3 years, don't want a car out of warranty etc, and you usually can get something more expensive for much lower payments than if you finance.

My first choice by a mile was a legacy wagon. Loads of space, good engine, reliable, AWD for the crappiest of days, and it looks pretty good. Lease prices were pretty good too. Then Subaru dropped the wagon on the new model. So that was out for me. I had a look around a forester but it felt distinctly tinny - doors were so light after a previous history of VW / BMW / Land Rover etc.
The only other decent option was the Passat wagon. Not as cheap, but fairly well put together and looks good too. I was thinking the 2.0T as hubby has that in his Jetta.
Anyway, we changed our mind and stuck with what we have in the end for another year or so until our lease finishes on what we have now.

I think Subaru may still make an Outback wagon, which is a bit more expensive but has more ground clearance than the Legacy - means you can just drive over the snowbank (can't do that in a minivan can ya!!)

XCMTBer

I had a little car shuffle last month and swapped both of our cars, Did have a Minivan for the wife and a ford focus as a commuting hack.

Looked at lots of different cars, one that I knew nothing about and appealed was the Honda Element, friends have a AWD version and with snows "goes like a tank in snow"

Would have got one but a good deal came up from a friend on a Pathfinder, which I am really liking

dbd33

A septic tank?

iaink

Last time I checked (admittedly a while ago) the outback has only an extra inch ground clearance over the standard legacy.

I was under the impression that subaru had dropped the legacy wagon in the US, but retained it in canada, but maybe that was last year. If buying used I guess it doesnt really matter.

I have an older legacy GT 4 door...always regretted not getting the turbo GT wagon. Alternatives tend to be german and very expensive...

Essex_Man

Well you have a few choices.

Ford Escape (You can get some cracking deals on them)
Toyota Rav4
Honda CRV
Honda Element
Suzuki Vitara
Hyundai Santa Fa
Kia Spotage
Kia Soul
Nissan Cube.

Ford do estate car. Ford Taurus X. You buy is used too as the ford 500.



Like with all domestic and KIA and Hyundai are pot luck reliability. You know if it is a keeper by the end of the warranty.

You can also pick up Montana SV6 Mini Van 14-16K....

Mazda 5 are also cool mini vans......They don't have any stodgy images either.

Check out http://www.leasebusters.com might be a lease you want to take over and avoid some of the cost. some people even pay you to take over the leases.

For more car advice check out http://www.canadiandriver.com/ctc/in...p?content=main

JonboyE

Middle age - kids - there's no point in fighting it.

dbd33

I have recent experience with a Honda Element (AWD and Michelin snow tyres). It's a tardis of a vehicle, it has tremendous capacity. However, I can't recommend it for driving; it's sluggish, uses an astonishing amount of petrol and is very wind prone. I think SUVs are primarily suburban vehicles and for that sort of usage, soccer Moming, going to the mall, it's adequate but it doesn't handle adverse weather conditions any better than the Beetle.

XCMTBer

good job I got a pathfinder instead.........

MikeUK

I'm going to say

Ford Escape

by summer boring dull run of the mill SUV

in deep snow in winter an excellent performer

(plus will do up to 80kph across a field)

Greenhill

I've been shopping around the last few months for a vehicle to replace the Vibe with. Main requirements for me were:-

• Hatchback for hauling stuff
• Good on gas
• AWD
• ABS
• New (i.e. warranty and low maintenance as I'm a slacker when it comes to looking after cars)

I looked at the following cars:

• Matrix awd
• Vibe awd
• Impreza
• Jeep Compass
• Jeep Patriot
• Suzuki SX4 awd

The Impreza and the SX4 were by far the best value for money and easily the best equipped.

So, with no Suzuki dealer nearby, I'd been haggling for a long time with the local Subaru dealer over an Impreza. I was just about to sign up for one when, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed an advert on TV from Suzuki Canada offering 0% for 60 months for the SX4.

After exchanging numerous emails and a couple of telephone calls with a far away Suzuki dealer, I took delivery of a nice new SX4 last Thursday (they actually delivered it to me free of charge).

For a small car it's really spacious inside. As well as checking all the boxes above, it has lots of features (e.g. mp3/wma player, cruise control etc) as well as the switch to select FWD/AWD/4WD.

I'm really pleased with it so far. It's a lot of fun. I thrashed it down to Halifax and back on Friday and got 32 mpg average, I guess sensible driving might get 500km from a 40l tank of gas. Interior is a little cheap here and there and there are no storage bins but those are small issues as the car is such good value for money. It's a pretty cool car too, so people keep telling me