The Highlander is lovely - I went to an event with the boss’s wife in hers and thought it was just gorgeous (top of line everything). It was a little above my price range and a little bigger than I was looking for so I resisted the temptation to look at one. I imagine the hybrid in that would be very nice.
Lexus totally ruined the RX. And its smaller cousins the NX. The grills are butt ugly. Mr B calls them “the biggest fly catcher.”
Congrats, @swimcatsmom. It is a great car.
I wonder what they were thinking - the grills really are ugly - you barely notice the car cause your attention is all on that grill.
Thanks - I’m excited. We went very basic with the last one - I was in a don’t BS me with upgrades and stuff I just want this at this price can you do it. I’ve been more than happy with it and the mileage was excellent and we were doing some big miles between a 100 mi round trip 5 days a week for classes then several months of 1200 mile round trips to Houston for M D Anderson and then 1200 mile trips to SC and back to see my son. I’m quite looking forward to a little more comfort. Leave in a little over a week to drive 1200+ miles SC for Christmas with my son and his girlfriend followed by a few days in FL with an old friend from England. The car is going to get broken in very quickly.
The Highlander looks boxy to me.
Problem is, car companies have almost abandoned the small minivan market in the US. The remaining small minivans are mainly offered as contractors’ work vans, although the Ford Transit Connect is offered in a more family friendly version. A previous small family van, the Mazda5, was recently discontinued after weak sales.
The bigger minivans like the Odyssey and Pacifica are good alternatives to larger SUVs, but not everyone wants drive something that big.
A slight departure…but along the same thread (Congrats to swimcatsmom, so I hope you don’t mind the sidetrack):
I will also be in the market soon for a multi-purpose vehicle that will serve as the family car (so not a truck). Had an old short-body mini-van, but the new ones are far too big. Also had a Pontiac Vibe pre 2007. I would LOVE to find something similar, but so far have been disappointed by my limited search. The body style of both Vibe and Matrix changed after 2007, and no longer meet our wish list (not to mention Vibes are no longer made), Requirements: FLAT rear trunk entry (like a wagon) – no lip. Most hatchbacks now have that lip which makes lifting items into the trunk much more difficult. Plus it limits the ‘mouth’ size. We could literally move a sofa in the Vibe. FLAT rear seats when folded (most multi-purpose vehicles I’ve seen do not fold to a true flat, again, making it harder to haul larger items. We even occasionally camped in our Vibe! I fit on the driver side, and DH fit on the passenger side (the front passenger seat also folded to a true flat). Any suggestions to help narrow the search? It can be a new model, or up to 3-4 years old.
I think Acura is redesigning their RDX and MDX next year. While I don’t typically (well once did) buy the first year of a redesign, I think I might prefer the newer design to the last year of the older one- unless I can get a good deal or the new one is butt ugly like the lexus
My Subaru Outback has a flat entry into the trunk and flat lay back seat which are super easy to use. The thing I wanted to do in my car was to fit my bike and skis easily in the back. It does both. The Subaru Crosstek has both of the things you want in a smaller car. You cannot get a bike in without taking off the front tire. I think Subaru makes a hatchback sedan also now. The Impreza
The cargo area of the CRV has 2 levels - a lower one and then a higher one that lifts in some way to make it the same height as the laid down back seats. The back seat can also be laid down independently while the other seats are left up. I think they lay pretty flat. I do think it may have a lip though. So many specs the last few day, hard to keep them straight.
Re #65
The Toyota Corolla iM is the successor to the Matrix.
You may want to see if the Ford C-Max and Toyota Prius have flat enough cargo areas. Also, the Ford Transit Connect is a small van with lots of room inside.
We got the CRV EX-L from the dealer in the city that made us a good offer. No one else came anywhere close. Had to drive 100 miles back to the city Monday after a long day of tax classes and didn’t get home till after midnight but it was worth it to get it all over and done with before we set off across country to visit our son in 5 days.
Our local dealer would not even budge. We did want to give them the opportunity to match it and support local business. Their reaction when my husband went in was that the offer they had made us was a good offer and that the other dealer would not honor that price they quoted and would have add-ons (we had already confirmed it was the out the door price). And then they told us we should support local business and that the owner donates to 40 local charities. It was probably lucky I was not there because my response would have been " I gave you the opportunity to match the offer we had and would have purchased the car locally if you had done so. I’m not paying $1000 more for a car because “you donate to charities in our town”. A. you are not a charity so I am not “donating” to you. B. I can donate to charities of my own choice (and also I get the deduction, not you)."
And by the way, the other dealer did indeed honor the offer (we had had them already include the fees in the offer).
Now to learn all the new stuff, The salesman showed us a lot and hooked up our phones plus downloaded the Honda tech support onto my phone where we can watch videos about all the different techy things and how to use them. It is sure going to be different from my very tech free sedan! Already loving the blind spot warning thing.
@swimcatsmom enjoy your new car!
Congrats @swimcatsmom ! I’m glad you got a fair price from an honorable store! I’d drive 100 miles to save $1000. It’s sad the local business wouldn’t budge.
This reminds me of when I was buying medical equipment for myself. I got a very good offer from one company in writing. Just out of curiosity, I did contact other companies to see if they’d match and all said I couldn’t possibly be getting what I said at the price I was quoted and they all wanted $1000 more for the same deal.
Like you, I did buy from the company who made me the good offer and have become very good friends with the owner, who has flown to meet me several times and I have referred other customers to him who have all been very pleased.
I like folks who don’t play games with pricing and give you a price they can live with and stick with.
I slmost bought a Nissan Leaf when they were having an excellent promotion but ultimately was annoyed by the games they were playing with pricing and that they only had dark colored cars with dark interiors—HI I’d too hot for dark! Because of the games I opted to not bother buying ANY vehicle.
Congrats on the new car! Sounds like you did a great job with the buying process.
Your local dealer will probably get your service work and that is often the most profitable part of the business for a dealership, especially the routine maintenance and warranty work paid for by manufacturer. You can support them and those charities that way. 