Help me pick a car please.....
 

Hi guys,

I have spent almost every day this week looking at cars and I cannot decide which is best for us. Family of 5. Really like the dodge journey 7 seater but I have heard these cars have bad transmission problems, any truth in that or should I go for it? I hate car shopping!!!!!

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

No idea, but it is descent not decent.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Thanks for that, very helpful. Now I know it bothers you I'll leave it :lol:

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

How flattering.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

lol only a decent citizen since 2001, oooh you must have been a bounder before that ;)

Ford Edges have good reviews. (just to keep relevant).

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Budget? New or Used? Financing or outright purchase?

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Can't help, I hate car shopping too but just to say I could have written your post! Family of 5 reluctantly looking to replace our Mazda MPV which is on it's very last legs so I'd narrowed our choice down to Dodge Journey, Ford Escape, Hyundai Santa Fe...something like that!
We only want it to last 1 year and want to spend the least possible but also not have any big problems with it.
So good luck!

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Personally would not buy a domestic vehicle. Lower initial cost, higher cost of ownership overall. Toyota or Nissan would be my choice.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

+1

Japanese is the sensible choice (in Canada).

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Or how about a lease takeover? Never leased a car so a bit wary but could be a good option if we only want a car for 1 year? Do they sting you with all sorts of costs at the end?

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I haven't taken over a lease but have leased, and returned, numerous vehicles. Assuming the mileage is that agreed then, Ford no problem (forgave me 5,000km or so each time even when I didn't immediately lease another Ford), Chrysler no problem, Suzuki big problems, VW a hassle but ultimately negotiable. YMMV, but I'd certainly see what's available with a year and 25,000km left on it.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I like leasing. We currently have two leased vehicles at present - a KIA Soul and a Ford Truck. Why? Because vehicles don't last beyond 9-10 years in this part of the world & financing a purchase over 5+ years to get to an acceptable monthly payment just doesn't work for me.

The Kia goes back this year. It had an inclusive service package - which in hindsight we could have done without as we haven't done enough mileage to fully utilise it - and wear protection insurance. Our intent is to simply hand it back when we're done.

The truck is a 24 month lease, again with included maintenance. I didn't opt for wear protection because I'm only using it for 24 months. It'll barely be used by that stage.

In both instances we benefit from mostly/completely being within the manufacturers warranty. So the Japanese/Euro/US manufacturer, what's best, the most reliable etc, becomes less of a factor.

With leasing you have to be confident that you are OK being locked into a financial contract for x years. (although I'd submit the loss when selling a vehicle to get out of a 5,6,7 year hire purchase agreement is much the same) and you have to be concious of the mileage you do. Those extra KM charges can be a sting. For us, living on a Rock in the North Atlantic, we don't do many km's in a year. If we lived on the mainland and had the realistic option of driving to visit places rather than flying, life might be different.

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Although some Japanese manufacturers make them in the US and Canada, but at least to their standards.

I always buy ex demo or dealer vehicles, save a bit and still get warranty.

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Buy a minivan and have done with it. What, please, is the point of a Dodge Journey that is not achieved more successfully with a Caravan, if it must be a Dodge? It's not an offroad vehicle; 4-wheel drive (if that option is taken) is unnecessary almost anywhere in Canada; the van has more interior space, more flexible seating options, a lower load floor, better fuel economy...

Just too many design compromises in a crossover, IMO.

Dependent on budget and other considerations, look at the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna, or possibly a Kia Sedona as well as the Dodge.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

1) It maintains an illusion that it's not a minivan.
2) See point #1.;)

I'dve thought that the Journey was slightly more economical than the Caravan? Being a little more aerodynamic.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

what's the point of maintaining an illusion (it's illusory, after all) with all the compromises that come with it?

Dodge Journey, aerodynamic? :rofl::rofl: Current model year stats from Chrysler are 22/36mpg for the Journey V6, 23/36 for the Caravan. Not much in it unless you opt for the down-spec 4-cyl in the Journey (25/37), but why would you do that, especially if you're maintaining your mythical illusion...

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I think you are under-estimating the resistance of a signficant percentage of the driving public to do anything to avoid driving a minivan. 2WD SUV, "Crossover", anything is better than the dreaded van.

Why do you think I drive a F150 Supercrew?:rofl:

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I was glad when the minivan years passed and I could get something more supportive of my self image.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I suppose I am lucky enough not to need to support my vehicular self-image through a compromised choice of family transport. I have a Morgan for that ;)

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No, I'm not underestimating it, I'm failing to understand it. MPVs sell in large numbers because they do what they are designed to do very well.

Mazda's current radio ad campaign for their 5 really annoys me for just this reason. FFS, it's a minivan - just a compact one, like all those hot-selling European things like the Citroen Picasso and the Renault Scenic and the VW Touran/Seat Altea etc. Acknowledge what it is, play to its strengths, but don't try and pretend it's somehow different from all the others.

And I thought your justification for the F150 supercrew was that the lease rate was stupidly cost-effective (read "cheap as chips") - are you now trying to retrofit an "it's not a minivan" position to emotionally justify your perfectly rational decision? I thought that was supposed to work the other way round!!

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Understand it or not, a whole sector of the automotive industry has sprung up the cater for the "not a minivan" customer. Most SUV's, All CUV's and the aforementioned Mazda 5 et al.

You and I know that a Minivan is a hard to beat practical alternative if you need that much space and seating flexibility. There are some (Mrs AX being one) that simply cannot contemplate such a vehicle choice. No matter how it's marketed.


The justification for the F150 was a combination of stupidly cost effective lease proposition, some personal circs that mean we didn't want to get tied into extended financing/leasing, a desire for a roomy vehicle with 4x4, and the 'I've lived here for 8 years and always wanted one so it's about time I bloody well indulged myself for 2 years at least". Not being a minivan was a factor but only inasmuch as the alternatives would have been a Ford Escape or Hyundai Santa Fe, not a Dodge Caravan.;)

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I know zero about cars, but we have a Hyundai, and a number of people we have met here have them too, and everybody seems to give them a big thumbs up.

We will buy a new car later in the year, and where we had planned to get a Suzuki crossover, we are now planning to get a Hyundai 4 door Accent as the one we have has been so very good and reliable (i hope I haven't just tempted providence:fingerscrossed:). Best of luck.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Suzuki will soon stop selling cars in Canada,

https://www.google.ca/search?q=suzuk...&client=safari

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

We've had a Dodge Journey for a couple of years now and find it to be fine for us - a family of 4 but with plenty of visitors and kids' friends. We found the Caravan we had before a bit "wallowy" on the bends here on the Island.

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It's a shame they weren't able to get a decent foothold into the north American market.

I'm onto my third Suzuki here (had two SX4s and a Kizashi) and I think they've been excellent cars, very practical in terms of what I've required from them and dealing with whatever weather Canada has thrown at them.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I'd get a Ford Transit Connect. You can pile all the kids in the back when you want and then you can also carry stuff around. Very practical. :thumbup:

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

You're a bit la-dee-da with your "connect" - Keep it simple.

http://deshika.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/van-2.jpg

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

You can't them over here though. :thumbdown: I wish you could get proper Transit vans here as I'd be first in line.

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

coming out for the 2014 Model year apparently!

or do you mean a 70's Tranny?

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Really? Hmm, that gives one food for thought. Her HID wants me to get a posh car but naff that for a game of soldiers. With a van, you can just just pull over to the side of the road and make a cup of tea. And you can go camping in it and all sorts. :thumbup:

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

i'm looking for the link i read it on...

something tells me it was the LWB Hi-Tops only, it'll need to compete with the Dodge/Merc Sprinter, so it'll be a Heavy Duty (3500/4500) dually chassis too i'd think...

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

http://www.ford.ca/commercial-trucks/transit/

looks like there's a few variations coming out early next year! :)

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I looked at those both but with the high tops they're much too ungainly and the Merc is quite spendy for someone who lives in the city and doesn't really need a van for work.

edited to note I think they're going to do three roof lines, with a lower one that would be the dogs. :thumbup:

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Maybe you were on to something with your Connect. This does look a very practical option for parking up in a lay-by for a quick cuppa..

http://www.minicamper.nl/images/cycl...ini_Bzitrz.jpg

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

I've just wee'd myself a little. Must check to see if it'll fit in my parking space.

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No 2.5TDDi engine choice though :(

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I can live with whatever engine they got. I can see it now, loading the van up with beer and food for a weekend surf trip to the Island or heading up north to go lake fishing. Might make this place just that little bit more bearable. :thumbup:

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Massive fuel guzzling engine and no manual gear box - slovenly sods :frown:

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

sounds like a good plan!

if they come with an option to add an extra bench behind the front seats to make a "Supercrew" van, i'm into it! :)

Re: Help me pick a car please.....
 

Holy bajoly I am more confused now than ever, looking at getting a new model, 2010-2012, test drove one and loved it. I have always been a Toyota fan.