Pathfinder or Pilot............ or Acadia..... (1 Viewer)

[Payne]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

 

[Workhorse]

We are in the same boat, looking at the Pilot, Pathfinder, CX-9, Santa Fe and possibly the Volvo XC90.

Leaning towards either the Nissan or the Hyundai.

Won't even consider a GM made car right now.

 

[Foosball God]

Kia Sorento

 

[Yankee23Fan]

We are in the same boat, looking at the Pilot, Pathfinder, CX-9, Santa Fe and possibly the Volvo XC90.

Leaning towards either the Nissan or the Hyundai.

Won't even consider a GM made car right now.

Loved our Santa Fe. Nice little car. But that was the problem. Once you hit family of 4 or more it is a little car. Drives great and most hyundai dealers these days go out of their way to make their customers happy with maintanance stuff. The Polit and Pathfinder are much bigger once you add that 3rd row.

 

[Foosball God]

Has anybody tried out the sorento?

I just picked up a 2012. I really like it.

 

[Workhorse]

We are in the same boat, looking at the Pilot, Pathfinder, CX-9, Santa Fe and possibly the Volvo XC90.

Leaning towards either the Nissan or the Hyundai.

Won't even consider a GM made car right now.

Loved our Santa Fe. Nice little car. But that was the problem. Once you hit family of 4 or more it is a little car. Drives great and most hyundai dealers these days go out of their way to make their customers happy with maintanance stuff. The Polit and Pathfinder are much bigger once you add that 3rd row.

Yeah, we're 4 in my family and kind of in between the midsize crossovers and something a bit larger. We're coming off a Nissan Murano that we've outgrown a bit. Really need the option of 3rd row at this point.

 

[Phil Elliott]

We have a '08 Pilot. If you are considering 4-Runner or Pathfiner, I think they are built on a truck chassis and will have a different ride, which you may like but wife probably will not. The Highlander had kind of a funky 2nd row seat configuration. No much front leg room in the Pathfinder. Not sure how they may have changed as that was 5 years ago we looked at this grouping. The Pilot has been great. Just under 100k miles and the only problem we have had was the original battery was replaced by the dealer during the first year. I have had a Sorento has a rental car and they seem nice. We had an Altima before the Pilot and thought the quality was just average.

ETA: Looks like the Pathfinder and 4Runner have gone back and forth on the chassis.

This refers to the Pathfinder:

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120109/DETROIT/120109892

During its 27-year existence, the Nissan Pathfinder SUV has seesawed between using a truck platform (first and third generations) and a unibody platform (second generation). Since 2005, the Pathfinder has used a version of Nissan's F-Alpha truck chassis.

Time for the seesaw to tilt to the other side.

The 2013 Pathfinder, being previewed as a lightly disguised concept at the Detroit auto show, rides on the FF-L platform Nissan uses for a variety of vehicles--the Altima and Maxima sedans and the Murano crossover. It also will be used for the upcoming 2013 Infiniti JX crossover.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Pathfinder is built on a Maxima chassis iirc. I wasn't a fan. Felt like I was in a minivan.

Wife didn't like the 4-Runner or the Durango.

Seems like we're at an Acadia or Explorer Sport, which was a much bigger hit than the XLT.

 

[matuski]

I've been looking for a recent year slightly used 4Runner/Sequoia/Acadia/Tahoe for a while.

I settled on the 4Runner as I noticed they seemed to hold their value longer than the others.

 

[stbugs]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

First of all, why do people trade cars in? I don't get it and won't ever do that again. A few examples:

1. SUV - Trade in offer $4k, Sold myself $8k - Sold in 1 day

2. Minivan - Trade in offer $8k, Sold myself $11k - Sold in a few weeks

3. SUV - Trade in offer $11k, Online private party sale value @$17k

I didn't sell the last one, it was my parent's and I am driving it now. Long story short, I work from home so I don't drive a ton in my car. My wife's new SUV is the family truckster. My dad didn't want to take a bath on the trade in and offered it to me (no charge, my dad is a great guy) since my SUV was getting up there in age. I've had it for 2 years already and I could probably sell it now for more than the trade value from 2 years ago.

Suffice it to say that I won't ever trade in another vehicle. I don't care if dealer #2 offered $2k more, that just means that he could have come $2k more down on the price and you could have made another $2k selling it yourself. With Craigslist and Autotrader, I sold both cars very easily. #2 was solely Craigslist, so no cost at all, although I sold #1 the day after I listed on Autotrader and the buyer mentioned he saw my pop-up ad that I paid extra for, so that actually worked out perfectly.

 

[Payne]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

First of all, why do people trade cars in? I don't get it and won't ever do that again. A few examples:

1. SUV - Trade in offer $4k, Sold myself $8k - Sold in 1 day

2. Minivan - Trade in offer $8k, Sold myself $11k - Sold in a few weeks

3. SUV - Trade in offer $11k, Online private party sale value @$17k

I didn't sell the last one, it was my parent's and I am driving it now. Long story short, I work from home so I don't drive a ton in my car. My wife's new SUV is the family truckster. My dad didn't want to take a bath on the trade in and offered it to me (no charge, my dad is a great guy) since my SUV was getting up there in age. I've had it for 2 years already and I could probably sell it now for more than the trade value from 2 years ago.

Suffice it to say that I won't ever trade in another vehicle. I don't care if dealer #2 offered $2k more, that just means that he could have come $2k more down on the price and you could have made another $2k selling it yourself. With Craigslist and Autotrader, I sold both cars very easily. #2 was solely Craigslist, so no cost at all, although I sold #1 the day after I listed on Autotrader and the buyer mentioned he saw my pop-up ad that I paid extra for, so that actually worked out perfectly.

stbugs,

I completely agree with you.

However, I live in a suburb of Detroit. My wife needs the van (or comparable vehicle) every day of the week for transporting my kids to and from school.

Therefore, it would be her showing the vehicle more often than not and / or having people come to my house I may not want to.

It's a safety thing.

Plus there are repairs needed to it that the dealership can probably do fairly cheap that a potential buyer would want to knock off the sale price.

Also, the price of the new vehicle is pretty much locked in since it's an employee discount.

 

[lumpy19]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

First of all, why do people trade cars in? I don't get it and won't ever do that again. A few examples:

1. SUV - Trade in offer $4k, Sold myself $8k - Sold in 1 day

2. Minivan - Trade in offer $8k, Sold myself $11k - Sold in a few weeks

3. SUV - Trade in offer $11k, Online private party sale value @$17k

I didn't sell the last one, it was my parent's and I am driving it now. Long story short, I work from home so I don't drive a ton in my car. My wife's new SUV is the family truckster. My dad didn't want to take a bath on the trade in and offered it to me (no charge, my dad is a great guy) since my SUV was getting up there in age. I've had it for 2 years already and I could probably sell it now for more than the trade value from 2 years ago.

Suffice it to say that I won't ever trade in another vehicle. I don't care if dealer #2 offered $2k more, that just means that he could have come $2k more down on the price and you could have made another $2k selling it yourself. With Craigslist and Autotrader, I sold both cars very easily. #2 was solely Craigslist, so no cost at all, although I sold #1 the day after I listed on Autotrader and the buyer mentioned he saw my pop-up ad that I paid extra for, so that actually worked out perfectly.

There's a lot of negotiation room on trade ins. I've had very good luck trading my cars in. There's also the tax benefit.

 

[eoMMan]

Acadia is part the latest recall announced today. Check the model years...

 

[Tiger Fan]

dot

 

[stbugs]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

First of all, why do people trade cars in? I don't get it and won't ever do that again. A few examples:

1. SUV - Trade in offer $4k, Sold myself $8k - Sold in 1 day

2. Minivan - Trade in offer $8k, Sold myself $11k - Sold in a few weeks

3. SUV - Trade in offer $11k, Online private party sale value @$17k

I didn't sell the last one, it was my parent's and I am driving it now. Long story short, I work from home so I don't drive a ton in my car. My wife's new SUV is the family truckster. My dad didn't want to take a bath on the trade in and offered it to me (no charge, my dad is a great guy) since my SUV was getting up there in age. I've had it for 2 years already and I could probably sell it now for more than the trade value from 2 years ago.

Suffice it to say that I won't ever trade in another vehicle. I don't care if dealer #2 offered $2k more, that just means that he could have come $2k more down on the price and you could have made another $2k selling it yourself. With Craigslist and Autotrader, I sold both cars very easily. #2 was solely Craigslist, so no cost at all, although I sold #1 the day after I listed on Autotrader and the buyer mentioned he saw my pop-up ad that I paid extra for, so that actually worked out perfectly.

There's a lot of negotiation room on trade ins. I've had very good luck trading my cars in. There's also the tax benefit.

There is, but there is a lot more room to selling it yourself. The negotiating room on the trade in is in two parts, one, they don't have to come down on the new car as much and two, they low ball you on the trade in price. Do you really think there is $3-7k in negotiating room on a trade in? The only one that was even close to what I sold my cars for (I sold them on the low end to get rid of them quick) was a loaded Toyota Sienna. Even then I got $3k more. I also bought my new Highlander through a friend who leases them to companies and got me his largest company's fleet price. With selling my own car, I got $8k in total savings from the dealer's sale price. I am sure I could have negotiated a bit, but nothing close to $8k and half the savings was in selling my own car.

What is the tax benefit?

 

[stbugs]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

First of all, why do people trade cars in? I don't get it and won't ever do that again. A few examples:

1. SUV - Trade in offer $4k, Sold myself $8k - Sold in 1 day

2. Minivan - Trade in offer $8k, Sold myself $11k - Sold in a few weeks

3. SUV - Trade in offer $11k, Online private party sale value @$17k

I didn't sell the last one, it was my parent's and I am driving it now. Long story short, I work from home so I don't drive a ton in my car. My wife's new SUV is the family truckster. My dad didn't want to take a bath on the trade in and offered it to me (no charge, my dad is a great guy) since my SUV was getting up there in age. I've had it for 2 years already and I could probably sell it now for more than the trade value from 2 years ago.

Suffice it to say that I won't ever trade in another vehicle. I don't care if dealer #2 offered $2k more, that just means that he could have come $2k more down on the price and you could have made another $2k selling it yourself. With Craigslist and Autotrader, I sold both cars very easily. #2 was solely Craigslist, so no cost at all, although I sold #1 the day after I listed on Autotrader and the buyer mentioned he saw my pop-up ad that I paid extra for, so that actually worked out perfectly.

stbugs,

I completely agree with you.

However, I live in a suburb of Detroit. My wife needs the van (or comparable vehicle) every day of the week for transporting my kids to and from school.

Therefore, it would be her showing the vehicle more often than not and / or having people come to my house I may not want to.

It's a safety thing.

Plus there are repairs needed to it that the dealership can probably do fairly cheap that a potential buyer would want to knock off the sale price.

Also, the price of the new vehicle is pretty much locked in since it's an employee discount.

There is absolutely a convenience and believe me, my wife is not a patient person, so I knew every extra day I had them would be less fun. I actually got the new car first and then sold the other cars as I didn't want to be without 2 cars. Other than an extra car in the driveway (long, so enough room that it wasn't really a big deal), it was easier that way because then I could actually clean the car and not have it get dirty and have it instantly ready to sell. For my minivan, I met the couple at a parking lot on a weekend. Again, my impatient wife didn't have fun picking me up after I was carless when I sold it right there, but again when do women understand that 3 racks is worth a half hour of inconvenience?

ETA: Also, with the repairs that makes more sense as you are going to have a real tough time selling a car with problems. That said, the dealer knows that and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to give you the sweetheart deal. They'll use the cheaper repairs and make more profit and give you a spiel on why they had to knock off extra due to condition. I had a tranny issue with a car from years ago and ended up donating it since the donating rules at that time were a little more lenient and the car had 165k miles on it, so it would have been really hard to sell without spending more than it was worth.

 

[Chadstroma]

My Cherokee lease is up in sept.

I will be looking for a new (or used) SUV that isn't as pricey and is safe (new born coming in July). I don't drive much, but will make a Philly to Pittsburgh trip a few times per year and probably the jersey shore from Philly as well. Otherwise, its a few miles to the train daily and a 15min drive to the airport 2-3 times per month and here and there on the weekends.

Acadia, enclave, pilot, a used Infiniti, ford edge in the running I think.

If safety is your top concern then the Acadia/Enclave/Traverse has to be on top of your list. I spent a lot of time looking up a lot of data and it was clear that they were on top of the list.

I'm not sure I need the 3rd row though. First kid on the way and we are doing 2 maximum.

Obviously there are more considerations than just safety. For us, we needed the room so smaller was a negative in two ways- they smaller SUVs dont rate out as well in safety and then there is not as much room. Safety was my number one concern by far and through all the research I did, the Acadia was on top of our prospect list. Reliability was another important factor for us and they get the Consumer Reports thumbs up. Randomly chatted up people (gas station, etc) that I ran into with an Acadia/Enclave/Traverse and did not get any negative feedback. Then our test drives both the wife and I liked the Acadia/Enclave better than everything else. The Explorer was right up there for us too but it gets edged out on some of the safety data I saw (though it still ranks very high in safety).

The only thing I will say about the space and with the kids. Do you have any idea how much crap ONE kid can take up? There is the kid, the stroller, diaper bag, this and that.... and God forbid that you actually take something else along with you or go the grocery store! But I would think about how long you are likely to have it as well. I have two kiddos now and the vehicles that worked well enough with one kid are absolute nightmares now with two.

 

[Chadstroma]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

Might be the history of Durango? I don't know much about now but it was not too long ago that it seemed that "Durango" was on it's way to being a swear word.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Yeah, but the Explorer's shortcomings safety-wise are driver's side, and I figure the wife's going to be the primary driver, so...

 

[Chadstroma]

Yeah, but the Explorer's shortcomings safety-wise are driver's side, and I figure the wife's going to be the primary driver, so...

 

[rascal]

Been in the market, and I think we've settled on the Durango. Will be having 3 kids, and it offers good flexibility and cargo space. Also has good safety, decent gas mileage, amenities wife wants, decent reliability since the Mercedes marriage, and it's in my price range.

 

[rascal]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

Might be the history of Durango? I don't know much about now but it was not too long ago that it seemed that "Durango" was on it's way to being a swear word.

They stopped production in 2010 and did a full redesign stealing from Mercedes. It's been above average/average since.

 

[Payne]

Amazed only one small mention of a Durango.

The reviews on it are much better than either the Explorer or the Acadia. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes GL series.

8 speed ZF trans. Higher tow rate. Class leading fuel economy.

Wife is tired of being a minivan mom. She drove the Explorer first and loved it. But after the dealership offered us a trade in I considered a slap in the face, I mentioned we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the Durango. She absolutely loved it. $2,000 more for our trade in and about $3,000 cheaper than the Explorer.

Honestly, I have heard way too many problems with the Acadia and it's siblings. Didn't even look at them.

Plus GM makes me nervous.

Might be the history of Durango? I don't know much about now but it was not too long ago that it seemed that "Durango" was on it's way to being a swear word.

That is why we looked at the Explorer first.

But upon checking the reviews, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it graded out. I couldn't find a negative review other than fuel economy, etc.

 

[lumpy19]

What is the tax benefit?

If I get 17k on my trade in I don't have to pay taxes on that 17k...8% NYS tax $1360...so really I'm getting 18360 for my trade in not 17k. In fact all my negotiation is based on the trade in, I'd like them to leave the price on the vehicle i'm buying right where it's at.

 

[stbugs]

What is the tax benefit?

If I get 17k on my trade in I don't have to pay taxes on that 17k...8% NYS tax $1360...so really I'm getting 18360 for my trade in not 17k. In fact all my negotiation is based on the trade in, I'd like them to leave the price on the vehicle i'm buying right where it's at.

Got it, makes sense, especially in high tax states. Here in NC, the tax rate is only 3%, so only a $510 benefit on 17k. Based on my personal sales the 3% doesn't come close to the extra 40%-100% extra I got. I understand the convenience and tax benefit (now), but I guess I have had good experiences selling 3 cars and not selling another that I'd rather go that route, assuming it is a good running car. If it's broken down or hard to sell, I'd trade it in every time.