Okay FG hive mind. The preliminary search for a car to replace Mrs. Corrigan's GLK250 (lease expires end of September) has begun. We're through with leasing, so this will be a purchase/finance. Here are the needs, keeping in mind this is to be the all purpose family vehicle (since I'm determined to keep filling the garage with 2-seaters or near 2-seaters):
- Budget roughly 40-50k CDN for new/lightly used
- 6 or 7 seater with at least halfway decent storage (i.e. 2-3 full size suitcases) with all seats deployed (roof box will almost certainly be purchased for major outings)
- Comfortable
- Reliable (plan on owning it until it utterly dies/becomes too expensive to repair, which IMO should be AT LEAST 10-15 years)
- AWD
- No four bangers. 6 and above cylinders only
- Need not be covered in whale penis leather, but neither should it be a Rubbermaid fest, either
- Decent ground clearance (no trail riding, but would like to use it for long stretches of gravel road or to get to campsites), so basically, no wagons. SUVs/CUVs only.
- Towing capacity not important, as we have nothing to tow, but that might change in 5 or 10 years time (think small boat).
- Absolutley nothing European. Our baby Porsche aside, we're done with zee Germans. Too expensive for starters, and absolutely not worth it in the long run. She prefers Japanese/Korean, but I'm determined to also get her to at least try some American offerings.
- Not the Ford Transit, Rick!
Here's my list thus far:
- Acura MDX
- Honda Pilot
- Nissan Pathfinder
- Infiniti QX60
- Toyota 4Runner
- Toyota Highlander
- Toyota Sequoia (over budget unless we can score a deal, but it would serve my hidden agenda of the car being too big to fit in the garage and prevent ruining my man cave plans)
- Hyundai Sante Fe
- GMC Acadia/Chevrolet Traverse
- Chevrolet Tahoe (doubtful, but she might like it, also see Sequoia)
- Ford Flex
- Ford Explorer/Lincoln MKT
- Ford Expedition
I know that's a whopping range of prices and sizes in that group but that's only because I'm trying to keep an open mind, and frankly, sometimes she surprises me (if we didn't need the 6 seats, she'd be asking for a Silverado right now). If I were to take a pre-test drive guess, I suspect the Honda Pilot and Hyundai Sante Fe might be her favourites. I wonder about the Honda automatics in this day and age (Spectre?). I'm partial to the new Acadia, but it's pricey (though I'm sure we could negotiate it heavily) and I wonder about GMC long term 'Kwalitee'.
[EDIT: despite the requirements, she might still opt for a minivan, but that broadens the search too much for the purposes of this exercise, so let's ignore those for the time being]