little-beauty

Good evening!

We're moving over to Northern Ontario in a few weeks and I'm looking for something that's cheaper than a Toyota Landcruiser yet more reliable than a typical North American SUV.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, a North American domestic car will be cheaper to maintain and insure but will be a pile of old Pony. Are there any gems out there that people are driving? Maybe even something that will do upwards of 25mpg and not shed components across the road after 8 years...

I understand we have a few Kia Fans on the forum!

As always, your thoughts are precious.

Thanks.

Little-B.

dbd33

Highlander ?

britishvixen21

My freind had a Kia 4 x 4 very very nice and roomy too but she said it was a real big gas (petrol) guzzler. Shes just downgraded. Be aware that gas is at an all time high here at the moment sometimes notching up at a $1 a litre which is not much compared to England but here its been a very big deal, and big car (suv / 4x4) equals lots and lots of gas

Just my two cents

R2D2

Domestic cars ie, North American ones are cheaper to buy in the first place, but may well depreciate a lot quicker . And most (not all, but most) are just UGLY !
Stick with the Jap ones. My Mazda Tribute SUV is wonderful and not bad on gas compared to some SUV's. Not great around town, but we can get to the mountains on a full tank, so thats good enough for me.

iaink

Waddaya mean "Northern Ontario"?

Its extremely unlikely you need anything more offroadable than a Subaru in almost anywhere on the beaten track, and that gives you reliability and good economy, with the bonus that it wont be a hideous liability on normal road conditions, and will actually have some sort of roadholding and comfortable suspension.

In fact in most of Ontario even a Subaru is way more than you need (but nice to have in the really crappy weather), most canadians bless em dont even bother with winter tires and drive around in the usual domestic and jap FWD suspects. Save your money, you might be glad of it for something you actually need in a little while.

If you are desperately far north then some sort of skidoo woud be more usefull most of the time. Ontarios a huge entity, north could be anything from Barrie all the way up to parts near Hudson Bay where there are no roads in or out.

iaink

Erm???? Mazda Tribute = Ford Escape

Built in same plant in Kansas City, to same crappy standards. The only, and I mean only, engineering difference between them except for some interior trim and the badges is there is a plastic cover over the rad in the Mazda that none of the ford engineers I worked with could tell me the purpose of. My old boss bought one thinking the quality would be better, only to have the roof lining fall down on his head at speed on the 401.

You have to be very carefull about the badge engineering and marketing that goes on. Sometimes its good, like when a Mazda becomes a Ford (Mazda 6 => Ford Fusion), but watch out when its the other way around!

steals

dont take any notice get yourself the biggest 4x4 you can get if you see the way canadians drive you will be glad you did i used to have a landcruiser and a shogun in the uk and i agree far better than stuff here but the sound of them here is better we bought a 5.9 durango and im going to buy a 5.7 hemi dodge ram soon you will need 4x4 sooner or later so get one to begin with toyota do the sequia its nearly the same as a landcruiser and nissan do a nice suv as well my neighbour has a gmc envoy that too is a nice suv toyota rav 4s are quite nice here as well better than uk models gas prices arent really an issue its cheap

macadian

Well...we considered a Toyata Highlander opposed to a FordExplorer which was first considered. But we did not mind spending a liitle more on quality, so decided on Toyota. Well, we ended up with a Tundra truck 4X4 access cab model wich gave us the occasional extra seats in the back. We did not need all the seating that an SUV provided, however we did surmise towing power and load space were more in tune with our needs, hence the truck. Never regretted it, quality vehicle and a joy to drive.

Depends on your priorities re seating etc...but truck works for us.

hot wasabi peas

I had a 1978 Ford Mercury Capri (with racing stripes) for about 4 years and it was a great little beast. Going skiing and needing to drive up a snowy/icey mountain road, I just popped on some cables and away I went, passing at least a half a dozen SUVs and 4x4s keeled over on the side of the road. And wow could that car do donuts! It cost me $1,500 (10 years ago) and ran like a tank. Fugly though!

iaink

Given the way canadians drive (not to mention the road sense or lack thereof of the wildlife) I decided I would rather be able to stop and/ or get out of the way quickly, neither of which my SUV was much good at. Plus after living here a while and appreciating the greater distances routinely travelled and the fact I was paid in $CDN regardless of the exchange rate, I started to resent the frequency and cost of filling up a 4 litre vehicle when 2.5 is more than enough.

Atlantic Xpat

Vehicle choice should be driven by where you live, how much you are driving, etc etc. Of course thats all nonsense it comes down to emotion most of the time.

I bought a Jeep Liberty 3.7V6 super dooper renegade offroad version with carlos fandango wide wheel arches, rock rails, underbody protection and a trillion watts of roof mounted offroad lights. Do I need all that? Well, the underbody protection came in useful when I parked it in a ditch last winter, the 4x4 comes in useful during snow/ice and driving the dirt roads and surprisingly the trillion watts of lighting also gets used when driving out in the boonies at night. OK, a Toyota yaris would probably do most of what I need but where's the fun in that?!

I do regret not buying the monster truck I really wanted though. I suspect by the time I'm changing the jeep the continued increase in gas prices will make it even more impractical. My wife wore the sensible hat and steered me towards the jeep (Bro in law is a Jeep salesman so we got a deal), although I got my way with the renegade.

For serious consideration for the OP. Kia Sorrento gets rave reviews and is supposed to be reliable. 3.5V6 petrol is relatively economic compared to V8's. The Liberty is not a bad little rig although I find it very thirstry (16l per 100km). If I were to get another one I would get a diesel as the lib' is about the only small 4x4 available with diesel. (2.8 CRD).

For economic and reliable SUV's then you have to look at the 'soft roader' varierty. Rav 4, Nissan Xtrail, Honda CRV etc. Of those I'd go for the Xtrail. Bigger 4x4's, I have a soft spot for the Durango but monstrously expensive to run I'd think. Also drove a Chevy Trailblazer for a couple of weeks last summer and was reasonably impressed. None of these possess any kind of handling characterstics. If you want handling then Subaru Forester or Outback are the way to go.

My several cents....

AX

TrishP

We live in Northwestern Ontario and bought a Jeep Liberty as we felt vulnerable in a standard car - there are so many moose up here that if you hit one in a car you're so dead! It's also come in very handy over the winter with the amount of snow and ice up here - I don't mean to put anyone down in any way, but a lot of the people on this board live in the south (where temperatures have only gotten about as low as -10 over the winter with a couple of inches of snow) and perhaps don't really have a true appreciation of Northern living. We've had loads of snow up here since November and some pretty darned cold temperatures (although not as cold as usual, I'm told!).

Most folks up here drive 4X4s or trucks - great for carting about the snow-machine!

So what part of Northern Ontario are you headed to? It's a big province!!

TrishP

One thing I forgot to mention worth considering is the availability of dealerships in the North! We have to go 2-3 hours South to get to any dealership and about 5 hours to Winnipeg or 6 to T Bay to get any real selection of vehicles for purchase. I would have considered a Subaru, but the nearest dealership was T Bay.

iaink

How is that different in a Jeep? I appreciate that a liberty probably handles better than my Cherokee did, but I wouldnt fancy doing a moose dodge manouver at speed in something that top heavy :scared:

Atlantic Xpat

We have moose/vehicle interface issues here in NL as well......

IainK, Its not so much the moose avoidance, which granted is likely to be easier in a car. (Although a liberty will handle better than your cherokee). Rather its if you do hit one in a car, you take its legs out (moose being long legged) and its body crashes down on top of the passenger compartment breaking your neck. The theory in a 4x4 is that being higher up the moose impacts with the hood/front of the car giving you a better chance of surviving. Either way the moose is generally screwed.

This may be complete bunkum but its what folks here tell me.

AX