<p>Customer Service is a huge consideration for me because it factors into quality and reliability. Part of the reason why I went with Toyota is that they are three miles from where I work and they have a courtesy shuttle with extended hours and WiFi in their waiting area and showroom with desks where I can work. The Honda dealer is eight miles from the office and six miles from home and is less convenient though many that I work with have purchased cars from them.</p>
<p>BTW, some of those European luxury cars can be a nightmare on maintenance after a few years.</p>
<p>The BMWs we have haven’t cause problems over the years. We used to have a Lexus, but got rid of it because it sucked in the rain. No complaints on Infinities other than simply don’t care for them. </p>
<p>My favorite GM vehicle is the Chevy Tahoe. Simply gorgeous.</p>
<p>Do NOT want SUV. Want a vehicle with good customer service and one our mechanic can service well. Am sad our Toyota dealership is so awful with service. Will ask bro and SIL about Hondas–they’ve had many and currently have 3-4.</p>
<p>Have had problems servicing Volvos, Mercedes and BMW. Want to stick with Ford, Cheverolet, or maybe Kia or Honda, I think.</p>
<p>HImom, don’t let the bad local Toyota dealer stop you from considering a Toyota. I’ve never in my life taken a car to a dealer for service. There must be some good auto places there, which will be less expensive than the dealer to boot.</p>
<p>I’ve been driving my RAV4 for 10 years now. It has almost 120K miles and I’ve never had to have anything done on it other than routine maintenance and replacements. I plan to drive it till it dies, and then buy another RAV4. (x-posted with above, about not wanting an SUV).</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I haven’t read this whole thread, but has anyone mentioned Taurus?</p>
<p>Hubbie just bought the 2012 Cruze in March. It has a great little turbo engine that is zippy on flat roads and doesn’t lag going up hills. So far, his gas mileage has been around 36-37 mpg driving 3 to 4 days a week, 30 miles round trip. He is giving his 2006 Saab 9 3 to DD1, which is a big step for him as he LOVED his Saab.</p>
<p>We tried out the Malibu and liked it, but were looking for a commuting car rather than a family car - it gets slightly lower gas mileage than the Cruze.</p>
<p>Have read and heard bad things about Taurus. When things are under warranty, sometimes you have to use dealer, I’ve been told. Our mechanic says he’s been having a lot of grumpy Toyota owners in his shop recently; used to be much better built and more reliable than recently, according to him. </p>
<p>Have no experience with Hyundai either. May ask a friend who has owned one. Don’t believe they are very common in HI. Will research further.</p>
<p>Thanks for all these thoughts. Please keep them coming, as we haven’t purchased a car “new” or nearly new in 14 years!</p>
<p>I believe that Kia merged with Hyundai and that their reputation has improved with that merger. Kia used to have a pretty horrible record for quality and reliability. One of my neighbors had one in the 1990s and it developed engine problems around two years. He’s had a Highlander since then - I assume that he’s happy with it given how long he’s had it.</p>
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<p>New Toyotas come with complimentary service for two years or 25,000 miles and I’m sure that’s part of the price that you pay for the car. Buying a new one and not using the service would be somewhat of a waste of money.</p>
<p>HImom, I just checked Consumer Reports, and they have Taurus in the “Very Good” category. Not to say it doesn’t have problems, but virtually all cars do. On the Reliability chart, the last two model years have CR’s best ranking across the board.</p>
<p>We recently drove a Ford Fusion rental and liked it. I don’t think I’d buy one though; it was a bit small and low and sporty for our purposes.</p>
<p>Toyota was really into expanding production back in the mid-2000s and quality suffered and it turned into a crisis around 2008. It has taken them a few years to fix a lot of problems. I’ve test-driven many Camrys over the years and the 2012 was the first that I liked. Have they fixed their problems? They’ve fixed enough of them for me to buy one and I’ll find out how well it works out in a few years.</p>
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<p>My manager’s husband bought maybe two or three years ago. The vehicle is nice and they were selling like crazy then - they still might be selling like crazy. They are aggressive on pricing but she told me that it didn’t have some of the niceties of their other cars which cost more. They also had an engine or drivetrain issue very shortly after purchase. Hyundai fixed it of course but it was a bit disconcerting that the car could have a major quality issue show up shortly after purchase. This vehicle was also caught up in the misleading advertising by Hyundai on gas mileage. There was some kind of settlement over that from Hyundai.</p>
<p>Ok. Will not automatically rule our Taurus. Thanks.</p>
<p>Anything else we should consider? What time of year is best to buy? End if the month, right? Other tips? Costco auto buying good or not?</p>
<p>When S was trying to buy a car last year, he was leaning toward getting a Hertz Volvo for safety but noticed a mildewy smell from the A/C so chose not to buy it. He researched and found a better price on a new Mazda than a used Hertz one. He was set to buy when he inherited a car from favorite aunt. He didn’t find the Costco auto service competively priced.</p>
<p>I bought my first brand new car last August…2013 Hyundai Sonata GLS. It’s got about 11,000 trouble free miles on it now. I’m pleased with the car so far. The one thing I don’t like a lot is how low the bucket seats are in the car…kinda like sitting down low, close to ground, like in a go-cart. My previous car was a sport utility with seats positioned up much higher in car’s cabin.</p>
<p>HImom, you’ll get that mildew odor in most any car when you don’t circulate outside air into car’s cabin with a/c on maximum. Set a/c to recirculate outside air in and don’t leave on maximum setting all the time and mildew odor from water build up in a/c vents should disappear. The mildew odor problem is common in hot places like Fl with a/c set on max. and blowing all the time in car.</p>
<p>It seems that this is a common complaint on the Sonata. One solution I saw was to use a seat cushion. I thought that most cars had height-adjustments on the driver’s seat.</p>
<p>Hmmmm, low seat on sonatas?
DS definitely saw that on the lowest Hyundai model, can’t recall the name.
But not on the Elantra he bought or the Sonata he test drove.
He’s about 6 ft tall, the Elantra fits him well.</p>
<p>What I mean by the driver’s seat being low in Sonata is that it is uncomfortable to rest left arm on open window frame while driving because seat is so low, or when I have to pass money to an attendant at a turnpike toll station…it’s a stretch and I’m a tall girl. Maybe I’m just used to higher seats in sport utilities, mini-vans, and pickup trucks I previously drove before getting the Sonata.</p>
<p>I am short. I prefer a SUV over a sedan. The SUV gives me lots of view on the road. Once in a while I can fold the back row seats to convert it to a truck to carry big things. I am not able to rest my left arm on either a sedan or a SUV.</p>