Time for a new SUV!

My FIL bought a new 2015 Ford Fiesta when he was 90. Drove it for 4 yrs and gave it to me in 2019 when he went to assisted living and no longer drove, it had 5,000 miles on it. Don’t drive it much, (7,000 mi now) use it as an extra car, but I want a new SUV to replace my 2012 RAV4 . I wonder if I should trade the RAV or the Fiesta ?

I don’t race anymore, so the stats don’t mean a whole lot. But general feel is important. My Subie is a base model the company gave me. I would hope the XT V6 would be much better.
I do love the audi products a lot. And the CRV has been good to me/my teens as a reliable, safe, smooth, modest daily driver for a high schooler. I prefer the CRV over my free Outback. Much smother, better materials… Just my opinion.

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I haven’t read all the posts, so not sure if this was suggested…
If you haven’t driven a Genesis GV80, you should. I had one for a week and was impressed all around. I do wish the styling was a bit my subtle. Not a fan of flashy things.

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I did have the Genesis on my first list, but not sure I will actually look at it. My list is all over the place, but I will be able to knock many off just by look, and then seat comfort; only then will I test drive!

I forgot what SUV I saw on the road this week from the back and thought I would add it to my list, until I saw the front; I hate cars that are mostly grill on the front. It is going to have to be fabulous otherwise for me to consider it!

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I think @snowball is the OP of this thread, right?

You know, I think in the equation should be how you’re going to use the car. Your top 3 needs or wants in a car. Is mileage important to you? Do you travel long distances much? Is most of your driving to work or local stores? Have many passengers? Older or younger? Do you have winter weather to want something good in snow? What kind of storage do you need? Do you need to haul a kayak or just store 4 bags of groceries?

All these should matter in terms of what you look at - and even what we recommend!

(I’ve become a diehard Subaru owner. I’m not interested in all the car comparing (some, not all), don’t need/want luxury, like sitting up straight with a good front view…I’ll probably be happy to make any remaining cars a drive repeat Foresters. )

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@abasket Yes, I am the OP. I agree, everyone has different needs and wants; I guess I was looking at longevity and repair history as my mechanic was opposed to car brands on my list. Again, I know he is only one person, but he is someone I trust as he has been repairing our cars for 30 years. That said, he runs a small shop with loyal customers, so he hasn’t seen thousands of the same brand in the same year. He doesn’t care for Subarus which my husband and kids all have. I think he is thinking more long term as we tend to drive our cars until the tires fall off!

I am going to look at ones on his no list and make my own decision. Once I narrow it down to a couple of cars, I will then research those and talk to him more.

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We’ve not gone car shopping since 2013. What are some of the new bell and whistles that folks like? dislike?

We don’t (yet) have a newer car, but a friend of mine hates the back-up warning signal (similar to construction vehicles). They feel like they’re waking up the neighborhood when leaving early for work. I’m not sure if you can pick and choose which signals to disengage.

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Like adaptive cruise control. And forward collision warning.

Hate anything to do with side by side - so lane keeping assist.

Hate attention assist.

And I hate the touch screens without simple dial alternatives.

Of course I work for a car company - I should love it all. We make money on all of it!!

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Love the blind spot warning & the rear camera when going in reverse. Some vehicles have a front camera that enables the driver to see the road directly in front of the car bumper.

Dislike the automatic stop/start feature designed to save fuel while the car is running, but in a stationary position.

My dogs love the hole in the roof. They stick their heads out when I drive at a low rate of speed.

Dislike liftgates which make hauling trees or other long objects difficult. Prefer the back to open downward, not upward.

Middle armrests can be good or bad. Some adjust–which is good, but others are too low or too short. I place an oblong couch pillow on the middle arm rest during long drives.

Some cars lack proper shade for the dash computer screen which makes seeing controls difficult on sunny days.

Car screen gives notice when any tire or tires need additional air. Important for AWD (all wheel drive) vehicles otherwise important to assure that all tires wear down evenly.

Cell phone chargers are helpful.

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As noted above, I love my auto windshield wipers, auto high beams. Love heated seats and this car has them for the back seat passengers too.

My car has Google. I can say things like “hey Google, turn the heat down to 68” and she does. No need to touch dials or screen for temperature, radio stations, phone calling, etc. It’s all voice activated.

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This is #1 on my wish list for vehicles. A simple list on the screen where I can easily turn features on/off. And the list would be spelled out - none of these cryptic icons/symbols where you have to look them up to see what they mean.

My car is from 2012, but H’s Crosstrek is a 2021. Most features I do not like.

The few I do…
Heated seats, back-up camera (though I’m still getting used to it), lots of easy to use cell phone chargers

I think I’d want: heated steering wheel, remote starter

H likes/I hate - the automatic cruise control speed adjuster. H loves it. I hate when he uses it, because he doesn’t pay attention to anything - that’s my job. And now he doesn’t notice that the car in front of him is going 5 mph under the speed limit unless I tell him.

Hate any kind of dinging feature, any kind of warning light that isn’t important (check engine, low tire pressure, etc). When they go on, especially at night, it freaks me out.

Any gadget that think it’s knows what I want. No, you don’t. I want to be in control of my car.

I did love how the subaru app would tell me the tire pressure in each tire. So if a warning light came on, I could tell which tire was low and by how much. Was it an emergency or not? But, I think that feature is part of the paid subscription which we lost after 3 years. Boo. But not enough to pay for it.

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This too. Love it!

I also have heated side view mirrors. Nice in winter here.

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I had a friend that was really worried about her rental car, stalled at red lights.

Turns out it is a feature (from Google - “Modern cars feature stop-start technology to save fuel and reduce emissions. The car automatically turns off the engine when it comes to a stop because fuel economy at standstill is 0mpg so all fuel burned while stopped is wasted .) There was an option on that model to change setting such that it didn’t do the auto stop/start, for those who found it worrisome (I might, especially on a car I didn’t usually drive).

We love: heated seats, auto high beams, blind spot warning on the side view mirror, rear camera, auto start from the Subaru app, and H’s absolute favorite feature for our 500 mile drives to see our GD: adaptive cruise control. Cup holders were a BIG consideration when we bought our current car for those long drives (we each need 2 on those trips, one for water and one for a caffeinated beverage.)

Neutral on lane assist. Can be a bit annoying but when I’m doing a long highway drive, I appreciate that it’s there.

Feature we hate is the auto stop/start when the car is running but stopped. It can be turned off, but only for that trip. The next time you start the car, it kicks back on. I would hate a back-up warning system if our car had it!

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Had to brush up on terminology.
Lane Change Assist vs. Blind Spot Detection, What’s the Differenc.

Husband’s 2013 Audi A6 does have blind spot detection (LOL - my ancient 2006 Odyssey does not). It’s helpful. We’re not sure how we’d like lane change assist and lane departure warning - are they the same thing?

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No. The warning just beeps at you. The assist pulls you back into the lane. The former I find annoying. The latter scared me. My natural instinct is to jerk the wheel against it. I can turn off the assist in the Subaru. The beeping, if possible, we haven’t found it.

None of this happens if you signal to change the lane, but lots of times I want to cross a lane marker without using the signal - something one the edge of the lane I need to move over to miss or give more room. Or at 4:30am when there’s nobody on the road, I like to straddle the lane a bit so my tires don’t hit every single manhole cover.

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I love all the new safety features-my big favorite is the 360 degree camera- super useful for parking. My Escape will also park itself. I’ve tried it a couple of times and it’s scary but works really well. I love adaptive cruise, lane keeping assist, blind spot warning, the backup cross traffic alert, it’s all helpful and works well. Even has a camera to make sure the driver has eyes on the road and senses hands on the wheel. I also love the heads up display that puts my navigation and speed right in my field of view so I don’t have to take my eyes off the road to see them. I didn’t know the car had that when we bought it but it’s very cool.

I do not like the backup beeping. I say it sounds like a bread truck, my engineer D says it sounds like a boom lift. :slight_smile: whatever it is I hate the beeping every time I want to back up. And no, I can’t turn it off. I hunted through all the menus looking for a way.

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Many newer cars have an in-car display that shows the pressure of each tire.

Underinflated tires can be unsafe (heat up more and fail with blowouts – remember the Ford Explorers with Firestone Wilderness AT tires?), worsen fuel economy, and wear out more quickly.

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I honestly don’t want any of these new features. I think they make drivers complacent. I have to pay attention when I drive my truck, I don’t have a choice. I religiously use my mirrors, which means I’m always aware of what’s around me. There is no touch screen in my vehicle. I’d prefer never to drive a car or truck with one. I never use cruise control, even on 10 hour drives. DO NOT shake my steering wheel when I change lanes. Lord knows I’m never going to let a vehicle drive itself. I like to drive. I’m good at it. I don’t need techy nonsense.

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