Spend $10 (for a month) or $39 (yearly) for an online subscription to Consumer Reports. They have excellent car reviews and reliability information that comes from their annual customer surveys. They also have a car buying service that will get you no haggle pricing from local car dealers. I’ve bought two cars through the service and have used it on two other occasions to get a fair price from other dealers.
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You don’t need a charger for a hybrid, unless it’s a plug in hybrid.
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We have had a trusted mechanic for at 30 years also. We were recently looking for a used car and he suggested Toyota, Lexus, Honda and Mazda. He specifically warned against Hyundai, Kia and Subaru all of which get expensive around the 7 year mark.
On getting older or mobility challenged people into a vehicle the Subaru Forester can be a problem. A cousin had a big problem getting her elderly father with a broken ankle into the Subaru. The seat is very high off the ground. Too high just to put his butt on and slide into the seat. She needed an extra person to help lift him in.
You probably do not want to hear it, but your use pattern basically says minivan (note that the MDX was the Acura version of the Honda Pilot, which was the SUV version of the Honda Odyssey minivan). On a wedding trip, I got to be the shuttle driver for some elderly people… and the rental minivan was the most convenient thing for that purpose, since it was very easy to get in and out of (even in the third row). The high ceiling and low floor definitely helped.
That would only be for a plug in hybrid, not a non-plug-in hybrid, which uses the hybrid system only to recapture energy while slowing down for use low speed driving or an extra boost of acceleration. Hybrids (non-plug-in) have now gotten to the point that the price premium may not be all that much compared to the fuel saved. The Toyota Sienna minivan comes only in a 35mpg hybrid.
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D has a new hybrid Toyota Rav 4. They love it.
They do wish it had a middle part in the back seat that goes down where skis could go.They put them on the top.
There is no way I would use two car seats in the back and sit in the middle unless you are extremely small and super thin.
Once the kids grow out of car seats maybe the booster seat would be easier. The car seats I swear could be astronaut seats. Now that kids stay in them longer, it’s an issue.
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Yes, it will get easier with booster seats (big kid has hauled her two kiddos in a RAV4 hybrid since they were born… space was quite tight with two astronaut seats lol, but now she has replaced one with a booster). Little kid just got a RAV4, too. Her child is still in a “basket” car seat that clicks to a base. Her husband installed the base in the middle of the back seat so two adults can fit on both sides of it.
Those RAV4 hybrids get 40 mpg!!
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I loved my 2017 Honda CRV. Sadly, it was totaled in an accident when a heavy truck ran a red light at a high rate of speed and T boned me. I walked away from the accident with fairly limited injuries, which were unavoidable due to the physics of the impact and the spinning of the car.
I would have bought another CRV, but there were significant shortages at the time and Honda dealers were adding $5000 or more to the MSRP. So I went with a Subaru Forester, which has caused me no problems and I like well enough, but not as much as I liked my CRV.
Another plus is that even though the CRV was 5 years old and had 32,000 miles, insurance paid out essentially the original purchase price. I know that was also due to supply shortages, but Hondas hold their value so well.
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@thumper1 @ucbalumnus Sorry, I should have said a plug in hybrid, which I know can be charge with 120-volt outlet.
Uh, no to a mini van again; been there, done that! Yes, for mom that might be easy, but she currently has no trouble getting into my MDX or her Mercedes SUV; yes, she still drives short distances! When we need a car for a crowd while the kids visit, we do rent a mini van. Usually I will only have one car seat, which will soon be a high back booster, once GD gains a few pounds. When my son is here, the 5 of us fit comfortably in my MDX, with one car seat and one high back booster, without using the 3rd row. The 3rd adult is on one of the sides, with the booster in the middle. The kids are done having kids, so we have this down.
@AustenNut I will be buying new, and because I keep my cars for almost 15 years, I am not worried about the depreciation.
@marrast Costco also offers dealers with no haggling, which we have used in the past. That said, when I bought the MDX, none of the local dealers could get the color and trim I wanted, and the dealers they traded with in other areas also did not have it. I got on the phone and called around 30 dealers within a 8 hour drive to locate what I wanted. Found one one state over, flew on a cheap ticket and drove it home; it was a state that couldn’t cross state lines to deliver to me. They happened to also be a preferred Costco dealer and the transaction couldn’t have been easier.
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I had to take in my son’s Toyota 4runner for warranty service and they had to have it for a week so they gave me a “free rental “. It was the new Toyota Corolla Crossover. They have it in hybrid.
It was so awesome to drive and it’s like a mini SUV. The hatchback on the back allows you to put the seat down and you have more storage space and it’s not as expensive as an SUV. We loved it. I didn’t think my husband would like it but he ended up saying that he really look forward to buying one.
We may be needing something like that in the Fall, but we’re waiting to save more cash since our remodel went over budget.
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I see Volvo on your original list. I had an XC 90 (7 seater) and it was fine, but I really like my XC 60. I got the one with a bigger engine, and I’m really glad I did. I was also considering a Subaru (which I really like), but once I drove the XC 60 I couldn’t go back.
My husband is a die-hard Honda guy, but he’s considering a Subaru for his next car. It will likely be a CRV or a Forester.
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Our toyota van is 20 years old (208k+ miles) and needs repairs that seem to be the tip of the iceberg so we went looking for a replacement. Siennas (all are hybrid now) in California are quite supply limited, but RAV4 hybrids are not so we went that direction. If you talk to owners and visit forums, people seem very confident re: the design and longevity of the Toyota hybrid drivetrain. General consensus seems to be that Hondas feel nicer on the inside, Toyotas are the mpg and longevity leaders presently. (Of course, I do like those Mazdas though… drove a CX5 on a trip and I loved it… I heard the CX50 might be getting a hybrid later this year, but if I were to get a regular internal combustion only car, it would have been a mazda).
If you do want to do a Toyota, there is an online spreadsheet that pings the Toyota website and collects all the allocation information for every dealer in every state. Models, options, prices, dealer markup, expected delivery dates. I can try to find it again if you’re interested.
ETA: I found it. It’s on the RAV4 hybrid page, with tabs for each trim. Other Toyota models are accessible through the links on the page. Lexus is also included. I noticed that going to Costco will get you the Costco price benefit, even from dealers that are adding large markups. But if you walk on to the lot and look at the sticker, it’ll show the prices indicated on this spreadsheet:
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We’re slowly converting to be a Toyota family as well. Bought the kids a 2004 Carolla with 26,000 miles on it and it hasn’t needed a thing in the 3 years we’ve had it. We just bought S23 a 2017 Tacoma with 114,000 miles on it as he will need it for his summer job in the mountains on unpaved roads. 114,000 miles sounds like a lot but these engines regularly go over 250,000.
I have a 2018 Pilot that needed a new transmission before 50k miles (luckily covered under warranty) and my husband has a Ford Fusion that has had nothing but recall after recall (my experience with my Explorer as well). We both plan on trading in soon and it will almost surely be for some kind of Toyota.
@snowball - the nice thing about the newer cars is you still get luxury options even on the non-luxury brands.
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Am I the only one that completely plans my car purchases around 250 lbs of dog?
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We have a Honda Pilot and a CRV and we bought Toyota Corollas for the kids. We’ve been a pretty loyal Honda/Toyota family. I’d look at Pilots, Highlanders, CRVs and RAV-4s.
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Can the dog climb into and out of a car, or does it depend on the height of the part of the car the dog enters and exits?
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We have one that’s 150lbs and our other dog was over 100 (recently passed, but when we do get another I can’t imagine having anything under 100lbs). It’s about having enough space, getting in/out and how they will sit in the car.
When we went to pick up our latest 150 lb rescue, he looked like he could jump into the back of my Pilot. Thankfully, my son was behind him because he couldn’t. Needless to say, I started looking for a new car that night. He has since learned to climb in the passenger door and my kids sit in the 3rd row.
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I hated my Honda CRV so there you go. I absolutely love my Subaru Forester. It definitely screams middle-aged but I love it (especially the visibility out the back) and it’s been relatively (knock wood) problem free.
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Since it will be new and serviced at the dealer which is closest to your house? There’s something to be said for convenience.
My wife’s favorite car was an MDX. She currently has an Audi SUV and likes it. It’s the best car we’ve had in snow.
Narrow the list and go test drive.
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Went from an Acura MDX to a Lexus NX when the kids went to college. I also really liked the Audi and still think it is the better looking SUV :), but the softer road feel of the Lexus is more my style. My husband and friends all like the more sporty drive of the Audi and BMW. We use a car broker plus our independent mechanic with both saying that going from the Acura was a no-brainer for what I like in a SUV - so shopping was easy.
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Oh, I have just started my list; from there I will do the research and only after that will I visit the dealership. The first step will be to sit in the driver’s seat and make sure it is comfortable; if not, no need to go further.
My one criteria on dealerships, is they must allow me to test drive the car for the day. I want to be able to drive it along my normal routes, the highway, parking at the grocery store, parking decks and my garage, picking up mom and testing the car seat installation. In years past I have only had a couple of dealers that would not let me have the car to take home; guess where I did not purchased my car from?
I would expected there will only be 2-3 models I will want to take for more than a test drive; those are the ones I will want to drive for the day. I do plan to still look at some that are on my mechanic’s no list, but I do value his opinion.
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