<p>" have decided to be less picky about the color of the paint and seats if I get the price I want."
-Strong warning. I have owned the card with the BLACK leather seats. First, we will not buy a car with non-leather seats. Second, we will never ever buy a car with BLACK seats even if given huge discount. Nope, not us, really bad experience, not worth it at all. So the leather and not very dark seats are absolute must for us at any cost difference.
In regard to Audi vs Toyotas I am biased. I have been driving Toyotas before my Audi. I do not care about repair cost, there is NO comparison driving Toyota vs Audi and I am not even a picky driver, I drive primarily about 15 min. to and from work and everything else is around my house within about 3 - 5 miles range. I am not going back to Toyotas. But my husband loves his Lexus, he does not mind. He also has driven several Acuras.</p>
<p>Take your brother’s car. Free sounds like a perfect model car.</p>
<p>Our all time favorite car was an Acura. Recently donated it with 240,000. Never had any problems with it beyond standard maintenance issues. Drove as well as the Audi and Infinity that we owned with MUCH cheaper repair costs.</p>
<p>S’s girlfriend drove a CRV until recently and finally bought a new car (Subaru Crosstrek?). Had over 200,000 miles on it and her dad took it back to drive. </p>
<p>I haven’t kept up with this discussion but it looks like you have decided on a small SUV. I wrecked my Honda Odyssey and bought a Subaru Outback. I’m really happy that I went to the small SUV. I find that I still carry stuff in my car occasionally and it is very convenient.</p>
<p>One thing you might want to check is how easy is it to put the back seats down. One thing I appreciate is how easy it is to put the seats down in the Subaru. It’s not something you need to do often but after wrestling with the sears in my Honda I find myself happy that I picked a car that is easy. Especially as I’m getting older lol!</p>
<p>We never drive until 240,000. Maybe that explains no huge repair costs. We exchange them before repair costs start piling up. I am not a big fan to be stranded somewhere, although there is no guarantee even if the car is brand new (we never buy brand new either).</p>
<p>I don’t buy cars with black seats either. I don’t like really dark exteriors either because they can get too hot in the summer.</p>
<p>In your situation I’d ask my relative for the maintenance records and ask if there are any known problems. If there were no issues, I’d buy from the relative.</p>
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<p>I sold the Avalon at 250K and was only stranded once and that was my fault. I just called AAA for a jump and was on my way - just a dead battery and I should have noticed the warning signs. If you keep up with maintenance and listen to your car, you should be stranded.</p>
<p>You may have larger repair bills but your expenses for taxes and insurance will be lower and you’ll be more comfortable taking it into iffy areas. There’s more piece of mind for me taking an old car into the city, airport, mall, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t like black colored cars because dirt and road dust show up on exterior readily and every little ding and dent stands out worse than lighter colored cars. To keep a black car looking sharp you have to wash it more often than lighter colors. Too, I think white is best color for car because white can be seen by other drivers better at night and makes things safer for you driving at night as opposed to a black or dark colored car.</p>
<p>I don’t like white cars either but that’s a New England thing. A white car can become invisible in the snow.</p>
<p>I’m in Florida. What’s snow?</p>
<p>I have had an Avalon also. I cannot drive this car any more. It puts me to sleep big time, too smooth. I have problem even drving for 15 min. I have struggled driving Avalon for whole hour each way while working far at the time. Some people might like the smooth ride though.
I was told that leaving any car on my regular parking at work during off hours and wekends is NOT a good idea no matter what car is. It has been OK during normal office hours. We have various cars on our parking, bit up thru Lexas’s and Audi’s, did not see Mercedes’s. Nobody has complained so far.</p>
<p>We have a 4 year old Honda CRV that was purchased new and then given to DS when it was 2 years old. The car runs like a champ and can be serviced anywhere. We also have 2 BMWs (5 series and x3) both purchased as certified pre-owned and they are great! No problems with any of them:)</p>
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<p>If you go to the Ford dealer, perhaps also consider the Ford C-Max and Ford Fusion.</p>
<p>At the Honda dealer, don’t forget the Accord.</p>
<p>I saw this article this morning on Yahoo and it made me think of this thread - The 10 Car Brands Most Americans Are Shopping For:</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“10 car brands most Americans are shopping for”>10 car brands most Americans are shopping for]Yahoo![/url</a>]</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m going to see my SIL today and look the car over. If it’s in decent shape and they want little or nothing for it, we will probably get it and defer buying a car until later. My current vehicle is a Toyota Sienna van and actually runs fine. I will need to keep it to schlep stuff for my non-profit a bit longer, I think. The ABS has been disabled, but rarely have I used it anyway and it drives better now because it was not repairable when I had brakes serviced recently. In HI, we have NO snow and ice.</p>
<p>I have never been a fan of black or DARK car interiors. I like light grey and that was the interior of the CRV I was pretty interested in (though I did enjoy the Acura more than expected as well). My sister loves her Lexus, but I have never driven one. I may test drive one, just to see what it’s like and why it has such huge fans (my SIL loved hers but shipped it to her S to use in med school).</p>
<p>IF I was going to buy a SUV, I think I could ditch the minivan, but with a sedan (like the Accord my brother is offering), I will need to keep both. H will keep driving his Volvo S70 until it breaks & the mechanic advises him not to repair or he finds something he LOVES. Neither of us drive much. My 2000 van has under 110,000 miles on it (many of them driving the kids around when they were young) and H’s has maybe 130,000 (it’s a 1998). About half H’s miles were put on by my BIL who owned it previously.</p>
<p>Right now, S commutes to work, but that ends in a month. The rest of the time, we mostly drive 1-2 miles to the store or to see my folks, sometimes 5 miles round-trip to see other family and shop. When I drive into town, it’s less than 10 miles away (each direction). Our driving is mostly VERY short distances, though we do occasionally drive 20+ miles/direction. (Hey, I’m not a salesperson, work out of my home & life on an island, convenient to most of what I want.) </p>
<p>When H is no longer working, his driving will likely further be reduced and we can probably coordinate and drive even less than the 5-7000 miles each we are currently driving.</p>
<p>OK, H now wants to buy a Cadillac ATS, once they get all the bugs out of it over the next few years. We figure his Volvo will keep on going a while longer, as will my van and the Honda Accord, so we won’t HAVE to buy anything any time soon. A good thing about having the “spare car,” is that we have a vehicle in case we have one of our aging cars in the shop and won’t be stranded. ;)</p>
<p>I’m leaning toward leaving the dents in the car we’ll be getting (that nephew learned to drive in), so that people won’t park too close to me and we don’t have to worry so much, when we get the inevitable dings from other car doors and shopping carts. Will see what the vehicle looks like in August and reassess. :)</p>
<p>Oh yea, so far have test driven all of the following vehicles over this week:
Toyota RAV4
Honda CRV
Ford Escape & Focus
Acura–mini SUV & sedan
Lexus–min SUV & sedan</p>
<p>Fortunately, NONE of the salespeople pressured me. I made it clear from the outset that I was just test driving vehicles to get a sense of what I really want and to help narrow down my search. I told them I wanted the internet sales person and HATED haggling and discussing prices but just wanted to get a feel for vehicles which I couldn’t do over the internet. I told them I’d be back when ready to purchase & contact them with a request for a quote at that time. Was very pleasantly surprised that the salespeople were able to stop trying to pressure a sale when I was firm and consistent in my messages.</p>
<p>Now that we’re getting a used vehicle in August, it further pushes back the timeline on any new acquisition. H is hoping they get all the bugs out of the Cadillac ATS during that time period, as he still hopes that will be his new car, down the road.</p>
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I wouldn’t buy a car that I thought I had to wait for a few years for them to ‘get all the bugs out’. It’s usually a failing proposition anyway if you want to buy new because in a few years they’ll make changes - different engine, different transmission, suspension changes, different electronic gizmos, etc. which now have all brought the clock back to zero as far as longevity reliability.</p>
<p>It’s true that the first year of a completely redesigned vehicle will likely have more problems than the second year of the model but practically speaking, there are usually few issues that aren’t readily covered under warranty in a couple of recalls. I’ve purchased brand new models before and never had any real issues and sometimes there are more issues with year 2 or 3 of the model.</p>
<p>Of course, if you buy used, there will be real objective reliability data that can be used but outside of a major design issue, like an engine failure (very rare) or transmission (rare but not as rare as the engine), they’re usually trivial things readily taken care of.</p>
<p>“Stay far away from Audi.”- I disagree, assuming there is a good dealer or other service available. We very much liked our 1998 Audi A6 that we bought used in 2001. We recently bought a new one and passed the 1998 (150,000 miles) on to our very appreciative new college grad.</p>
<p>After all this, we get a no decision???</p>
<p>;) :D</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts. Did buy a Oldsmobile Sierra when it first came out. Had the transmission go bad twice–once under original warranty and once under extended warranty that I made them give me at no charge because so many things broke so soon after I bought car new. </p>
<p>I guess the bottom line is we have no need of another vehicle at this time. Both our aging cars continue to work pretty well. Sine one is a 1998 and the other a 2000, we know that a BIG repair (4 figure) would make us reconsider whether to repair or buy, so figure gathering data is a good thing. </p>
<p>Since we are getting a 2009 Pre-(body) Damaged Accord in August, we will not have to make any urgent decisions. I find it all fascinating. Not sure either how much driving we will do after H retires in 4 weeks. Most trips we take are 4-5 miles r/t, with some of 20+ thrown in for variety. </p>
<p>The Consumer Reports was OK on Cadillacs but our mechanic grumbled too many electronics that can go wrong and has had grumpy clients who insisted on returning vehicles.</p>
<p>If we weren’t getting the Accord, I’d probably buy the CRV EXL. It seems the best compromise and is reliable. H really wants his luxury American car, which has me stumped because I really want a reliable car and am not convinced I’d get that in the ATS he favors.</p>