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SUV shopping - looking for ideas where to start... (1 Viewer)

KarmaPolice

Footballguy
Getting to the point where we are going to have to look at getting a replacement for my vehicle.   I hate the idea of this process, and honestly haven't really had to do any car shopping for probably close to 20 years (I just seem to get hand-me-downs as others get new cars).   Anyway, we are a family of 4 and my vehicle is currently a mid-00s Rav-4.   Most of the time that is fine, but IF we do go on a trip, it is a bit tight to get all our crap in the car.    So the debate now is if it's worth the extra $ just for those couple times a year.   Anyway, my questions specifically are:

1.  What are recommendations for SUVs around that size?

2.  What would be something that might have a bit more cargo space but wouldn't break the bank.  

 - keep in mind we don't have a ton of money, so I am not looking for BMW or Acura recs.    

3.  Lastly, we do have a Costco account and talked about doing that for the car.  How has people's experiences been using that?  Is it truly a no-hassle price and is it actually a good price and deal?  

 
 Anyway, we are a family of 4 and my vehicle is currently a mid-00s Rav-4 ...

1.  What are recommendations for SUVs around that size?

2.  What would be something that might have a bit more cargo space but wouldn't break the bank.  
I feel your situation. We had to replace our family sedan (2003 Ford Taurus) in early 2019 after a one-car accident. The car had long been paid for, and there was no insurance windfall to help purchase the replacement.

Our is also a family of four - me and my wife and two teens. The Taurus was A-OK when the kids were small and even into middle school. But now it's basically like seating four adults whenever we go somewhere. Like you, I wanted to finally get into an SUV (my wife's car is a late-model Nissan Sentra than can seat four, but is tight).

Long story short -- without a lot of time to peruse and not being able to pay for entire thing in cash, we ended up getting a two-year-old Ford Escape from a rental-car sales place. It had ~46,000 miles on it. Price ended up just south of $15,000. Not sure if the prices in SE Louisiana are comparable to where you are.

The Escape has rocked so far -- though of course, we don't have 5-10 years with it yet. But it does have more cargo space than your RAV4.

 
Getting to the point where we are going to have to look at getting a replacement for my vehicle.   I hate the idea of this process, and honestly haven't really had to do any car shopping for probably close to 20 years (I just seem to get hand-me-downs as others get new cars).   Anyway, we are a family of 4 and my vehicle is currently a mid-00s Rav-4.   Most of the time that is fine, but IF we do go on a trip, it is a bit tight to get all our crap in the car.    So the debate now is if it's worth the extra $ just for those couple times a year.   Anyway, my questions specifically are:

1.  What are recommendations for SUVs around that size?

2.  What would be something that might have a bit more cargo space but wouldn't break the bank.  

 - keep in mind we don't have a ton of money, so I am not looking for BMW or Acura recs.    

3.  Lastly, we do have a Costco account and talked about doing that for the car.  How has people's experiences been using that?  Is it truly a no-hassle price and is it actually a good price and deal?  
We replaced my wife's Rav4 about 4 months ago and ended up getting the Honda CRV (exciting, I know ...)  As you probably know, the small suv market is extremely competitive, and there is very little separating these cars in terms of price and quality.  She drove about 6 different cars in the small SUV space - the subaru, mazda, chevy, hyundai and others.  I think some incentives on the Chevy were a little better, but she really preferred the Honda.  Cargo space was one of her issues, and I believe it is a bit larger than the others.

Honda has a newer model - the Passport - that is between the CRV and Pilot in size.  It looks pretty cool - a bit larger but no third row.  The cost was a bit out of whack for us if I remember correctly, so we stuck with the CRV.

I found the Costco program doesn't really add much.  Its really similar to going through Edmunds or one of the other referral resources.  You input your info and then the calls/emails start rolling in.  I absolutely hate the process, but it helped to be doing it in a pandemic because I never had to step foot inside a dealership until we were signing the paperwork.

GL

 
Maybe I should have added that we are a tall family with long legs.  6'3" for me, and the 14 year old is 6'4".  Wife is 5'10" or so.  

 
We replaced my wife's Rav4 about 4 months ago and ended up getting the Honda CRV (exciting, I know ...)  As you probably know, the small suv market is extremely competitive, and there is very little separating these cars in terms of price and quality.  She drove about 6 different cars in the small SUV space - the subaru, mazda, chevy, hyundai and others.  I think some incentives on the Chevy were a little better, but she really preferred the Honda.  Cargo space was one of her issues, and I believe it is a bit larger than the others.

Honda has a newer model - the Passport - that is between the CRV and Pilot in size.  It looks pretty cool - a bit larger but no third row.  The cost was a bit out of whack for us if I remember correctly, so we stuck with the CRV.

I found the Costco program doesn't really add much.  Its really similar to going through Edmunds or one of the other referral resources.  You input your info and then the calls/emails start rolling in.  I absolutely hate the process, but it helped to be doing it in a pandemic because I never had to step foot inside a dealership until we were signing the paperwork.

GL
So it's really not a no-haggle special pricing like they seem to be claiming?

 
I absolutely love my 2020 Kia Sorento.  Plenty big for a family of 4 (which we are), but has the third row (folds down flat in back) just in case you're hauling a couple of your kids' friends around too.  

Has all the bells and whistles, but isn't over-the-top with things you won't use or need.  Super comfortable, rides great and is stylish from the outside.

There was a redesign for the 2021 model year which includes the engine but I hear they have a 4-cylinder, 281-hp turbo which sounds beefier than what my 6-cylinder is.  

Everything in terms of reliance, satisfaction, etc. is positive for Kia right now.  If you're in the RAV-4 wheelhouse, the Kia Sorento would be worthy of your time and research.

 
nirad3 said:
...all the bells and whistles...
Some enterprising automobile manufacturer with a great sense of irreverence and whimsy should add a couple "bell and whistle" buttons or switches to their dash. Bonus points if they actually trigger sounds.  I almost can't believe Tesla hasn't already done this.  They could program some virtual switches for their display very easily.

 
KarmaPolice said:
So it's really not a no-haggle special pricing like they seem to be claiming?
I have never used it to completion, but as mentioned above, you complete a form and it picks a dealership for you. Couldn't even pick the one closest to me. 

And you have to go to the dealer to get the price,etc. I was hoping to enter info and have a printout with the best price emailed to me to take to the dealership. 

Unless I did something wrong. I didn't care for the experience. 

 
I have never used it to completion, but as mentioned above, you complete a form and it picks a dealership for you. Couldn't even pick the one closest to me. 

And you have to go to the dealer to get the price,etc. I was hoping to enter info and have a printout with the best price emailed to me to take to the dealership. 

Unless I did something wrong. I didn't care for the experience. 
Gotcha.  I hate the idea of dealerships and salesmen - mostly because I know jack and #### about cars.   I was hoping that it would streamline it for me.   

I should contact the SIL.  I think my wife said that they did it and liked using it, and my BIL is a car guy, so I would assume he would know if the price was decent or not.  

 
Take a look at the Mazda CX-5.  My mother has one and loves it.  There's also a larger version, the CX-9.  I would think pricewise it's comparable to what you're describing.

 
Just a quick scan and it seems like the Sorento and Cx-5 are about 7K-10K more than the Rav-4, CRV, Santa Fe.     I am guessing we will have to do our best to try for under 30K minimum and the lower the better.   I will start looking at what prices are available for some of these in certified pre-owned.  

 
KarmaPolice said:
So it's really not a no-haggle special pricing like they seem to be claiming?
If you want the absolute best price, you have to shop around, get some competition going, and haggle a bit.  If you don't mind spending a bit more than the rock bottom price - maybe $1k at most, then it is no-haggle. I found that, in the small SUV market, there really is very little price movement.  If you get a dialogue going over email, let them know you're talking to several dealers and you need their absolute best price, you're probably going to get it.  The difficulty is your first several emails will be with an internet sales person who has no real authority and is often seemingly not even reading your replies. 

For us, the best thing to do was set up test drives, but let them know up front you're not buying today and are looking at several different competing cars, will get back to them.  Once you get it down to 1 or 2 cars, start the discussion over email.  Some salespeople will just drop you at that point. I whittled it down to 2 guys and we eventually made our decision based on the dealership being closer to us and just having a better feeling for one place over the other.  The pricing was identical and they were not moving. Then I insisted on knowing the exact out the door price before we would step foot in the place.  They sent me some of the docs (could not email all of them) so I could see exactly what the deal would be.  It still took about an hour when we eventually went in to get the car, but it was an easy process at that point.

Of course, 4-5 months later, I am still getting regular calls and emails from a dozen or so dealerships. 

 
Just a quick scan and it seems like the Sorento and Cx-5 are about 7K-10K more than the Rav-4, CRV, Santa Fe.     I am guessing we will have to do our best to try for under 30K minimum and the lower the better.   I will start looking at what prices are available for some of these in certified pre-owned.  
The wife and I bought a Kia Sportage 2020 in July. We looked at just about all crossover and mid size SUV makes, probably close to 20 models, and test drove 8 specific vehicles. We love the Sportage and Kia really impressed us with their vehicles, warranty (similar to Hyundai), and amenities for the price point.  Our runner up was the Rav-4 but we would have to had pay 4K more, for less amenities, and a much worse warranty. I am 6' and the wife is 5'10" and we have plenty of room left in the back for family that are 6'-6'4". From our scouting the Cx-5 and CRV came in as more of the compact SUVs and were ruled out accordingly. I would say be prepared to shop around. Let them know you are willing to go two hours away to save a chunk of change. Do what makes you feel good and test drive lots of them.

 
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Just a quick scan and it seems like the Sorento and Cx-5 are about 7K-10K more than the Rav-4, CRV, Santa Fe.     I am guessing we will have to do our best to try for under 30K minimum and the lower the better.   I will start looking at what prices are available for some of these in certified pre-owned.  
Wow they must have really bumped up the prices for the '21 Sorentos.  I was out the door under $30k, and I have the next-to-best trim package (the highest had a bunch of things I didn't need).  For what it's worth, heard good things about Hyundai since they are a cousin of Kia.  Good luck in your search.

Maybe you can find a '20 Sorento on a lot somewhere.  I can't rave about mine enough.  Only thing I wasn't impressed with was the sound system.  I am spending about $800ish to replace the speakers and put an amp in.

 
Search for the car buying thread on here, describes a good method of putting multiple dealerships against themselves.

Consider getting a rooftop cargo box for the extra stuff you lug around for those few trips a year. Much cheaper than upgrading in size to a bigger vehicle you don’t need all the time.

 
Search for the car buying thread on here, describes a good method of putting multiple dealerships against themselves.

Consider getting a rooftop cargo box for the extra stuff you lug around for those few trips a year. Much cheaper than upgrading in size to a bigger vehicle you don’t need all the time.
Great - suggestion, thanks.     I am going to battle that one for sure.  As soon as you jump up to a 3rd row that could fold down for extra room it looks like a good $10-$15K is added on.   IMO not worth the extra coin and worse gas mileage in case we go do something.   It's not like we can't jam into the Rav-4, it's just a bit tight, especially around Christmas if we have gifts and such.  

 
Wow they must have really bumped up the prices for the '21 Sorentos.  I was out the door under $30k, and I have the next-to-best trim package (the highest had a bunch of things I didn't need).  For what it's worth, heard good things about Hyundai since they are a cousin of Kia.  Good luck in your search.

Maybe you can find a '20 Sorento on a lot somewhere.  I can't rave about mine enough.  Only thing I wasn't impressed with was the sound system.  I am spending about $800ish to replace the speakers and put an amp in.
I see a couple certified Used - 2019 with 30K miles for 18,500.  2018 with touring package 35K miles for $26K.   Wide range in prices.  

 
We have 4 SUVs in the family.

2020 Honda Pilot

2017 Honda CRV

2021 Hyundai Tucson

2010 Jeep Wrangler

Guess which one I drive...

 
Great - suggestion, thanks.     I am going to battle that one for sure.  As soon as you jump up to a 3rd row that could fold down for extra room it looks like a good $10-$15K is added on.   IMO not worth the extra coin and worse gas mileage in case we go do something.   It's not like we can't jam into the Rav-4, it's just a bit tight, especially around Christmas if we have gifts and such.  
My in-laws just gave us theirs after our last Xmas trip to visit. We were packed to the gills in our Subaru Outback with presents, food, clothes, etc. Now we have a ton more room stowing a lot of that in there. I wish I had thought of it years ago.

Have to be somewhat careful what you pack in the cargo box if you are traveling thru extreme weather like hot or cold but it really is very useful.

 
My wife has driven a CX-9 for about 10 years now and it has been very solid. No real mechanical issues (knock on wood) other than a headlight that kept going out. Good in the snow and decent get up and go. When we got it we were in your position with kids getting bigger and needing more room. When we replace it we will probably get something smaller at this point.

 
If you want the absolute best price, you have to shop around, get some competition going, and haggle a bit.  If you don't mind spending a bit more than the rock bottom price - maybe $1k at most, then it is no-haggle. I found that, in the small SUV market, there really is very little price movement.  If you get a dialogue going over email, let them know you're talking to several dealers and you need their absolute best price, you're probably going to get it.  The difficulty is your first several emails will be with an internet sales person who has no real authority and is often seemingly not even reading your replies. 

For us, the best thing to do was set up test drives, but let them know up front you're not buying today and are looking at several different competing cars, will get back to them.  Once you get it down to 1 or 2 cars, start the discussion over email.  Some salespeople will just drop you at that point. I whittled it down to 2 guys and we eventually made our decision based on the dealership being closer to us and just having a better feeling for one place over the other.  The pricing was identical and they were not moving. Then I insisted on knowing the exact out the door price before we would step foot in the place.  They sent me some of the docs (could not email all of them) so I could see exactly what the deal would be.  It still took about an hour when we eventually went in to get the car, but it was an easy process at that point.

Of course, 4-5 months later, I am still getting regular calls and emails from a dozen or so dealerships. 
I am finding this to be more common. Salespeople are aware some of us will pit them against each other and they would prefer spending their energy elsewhere.

 
I’m just going to cut to the chase with my opinion because I’ve spent so much time researching and buying in this category the last few years. I’ve seen it mentioned a few times above. Mazda CX-5. Wife drives a 2019 Grand Touring and my daughter has a 2014 GT as well.

Look at Consumer Reports. Top 1 or 2 every year. Great transmission. Excellent engine and peppy. Just solid all around. Don’t be afraid to buy used or a dealer demo. It’s simply the best overall for midsize SUV. 

 
I feel your situation. We had to replace our family sedan (2003 Ford Taurus) in early 2019 after a one-car accident. The car had long been paid for, and there was no insurance windfall to help purchase the replacement.

Our is also a family of four - me and my wife and two teens. The Taurus was A-OK when the kids were small and even into middle school. But now it's basically like seating four adults whenever we go somewhere. Like you, I wanted to finally get into an SUV (my wife's car is a late-model Nissan Sentra than can seat four, but is tight).

Long story short -- without a lot of time to peruse and not being able to pay for entire thing in cash, we ended up getting a two-year-old Ford Escape from a rental-car sales place. It had ~46,000 miles on it. Price ended up just south of $15,000. Not sure if the prices in SE Louisiana are comparable to where you are.

The Escape has rocked so far -- though of course, we don't have 5-10 years with it yet. But it does have more cargo space than your RAV4.
I drove an Escape for 7 years. And I bought it used with about 12k miles on it. I never had anything but tiny little issues until the very end. North of 140K miles a bunch of stuff went wrong at the same time and I traded it in. It was great for what I needed at the time. It was a dream to drive in the snow. 

 
Used Costco and would do it again.  Only issue was the salesman the wife contacted tried to up sell her by telling her they did not have any of that specific model.  We had already done test drives and picked out the model desired.  I contacted the online salesman and asked if a specific VIN was still available.  It was parked in the showroom right next to the original salemen's desk.

 
I am finding this to be more common. Salespeople are aware some of us will pit them against each other and they would prefer spending their energy elsewhere.
Yeah they have caught on a little but as long as youre not in a hurry, your number keeps getting passed to the lower salespeople and eventually you get somebody who is just interested in getting a sale/padding their numbers. 

 
I drove an Escape for 7 years. And I bought it used with about 12k miles on it. I never had anything but tiny little issues until the very end. North of 140K miles a bunch of stuff went wrong at the same time and I traded it in. It was great for what I needed at the time. It was a dream to drive in the snow. 
What year was the Escape?

 
We have a POS 2011 dodge durango that we will be replacing this year.  Been looking at palisades and tellurides.  Three kids and I'm 6'5" so need something bigger.  Wife doesn't want to drive a suburban/expedition.  So regardless of the vehicle, we will use our existing roof carrier and a hitch with a cargo carrier on family vacations.

 
We have a POS 2011 dodge durango that we will be replacing this year.  Been looking at palisades and tellurides.  Three kids and I'm 6'5" so need something bigger.  Wife doesn't want to drive a suburban/expedition.  So regardless of the vehicle, we will use our existing roof carrier and a hitch with a cargo carrier on family vacations.
We've been looking at 3 row SUVs and liked at both the Telluride and the Palisade. Both are very nice. They are both 196-197 inches long and the third row is cramped. We'll probably end up doing the Traverse which is 204 inches long and feels more spacious in the third row, and has more storage space behind the third row. 

 
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We've been looking at 3 row SUVs and liked at both the Telluride and the Palisade. Both are very nice. They are both 196-197 inches long and the third row is cramped. We'll probably end up doing the Traverse which is 204 inches long and feels more spacious in the third row, and has more storage space behind the third row. 
Maybe chevy has improved, but one thing i always value is reliability.  Is the traverse reliable?  When i get a vehicle i expect it to last to 150k with no major issues.  I have a 2006 honda accord with 250k miles with no issues that I will drive till it dies.  The fact that Chevy's warranty is eh which doesn't help either.

I also don't like you have to het higher trim levels to get the full safety package.  

 
It seems like the initial direction research led us to was the CR-V.   Seemed like it had the best $/mpg/ratings/cargo combo that we looked at.  

:shrug:

 
Where is that car buying thread?   Nm found it

Search function sucks

 
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It seems like the initial direction research led us to was the CR-V.   Seemed like it had the best $/mpg/ratings/cargo combo that we looked at.  

:shrug:
Based on your heights, I think you’ll be happy with the CR-V. I’m 6’2” myself and we’ve had one for 3 years - really like the comfort and legroom. FWIW, we also looked at the RAV, but found that to be noticeably smaller than the CR-V. We would have gone with the Pilot, but that’s obviously a higher price point.

 
FINALLY got around to getting a new vehicle.   We landed on a 2021 CR-V hybrid.  Wasn't that much more for the hybrid, it had more bells and whistles, and we figured the extra (I think it was $1500 more?) would be offset by less $ on gas.   

Anyway, my specific car still needed to go through the safety inspection, syncing the keys, etc..   We are picking it up on Saturday.  

My last bit of advice I am seeking is what do we expect the sales people to throw at us in a couple days.  We are bringing in our down payment, officially signing, but the salesperson said that they would asking about extended warranties and I suspect other crap.   What should I be prepared for?  Is any extended warranty worth it?  

 
FINALLY got around to getting a new vehicle.   We landed on a 2021 CR-V hybrid.  Wasn't that much more for the hybrid, it had more bells and whistles, and we figured the extra (I think it was $1500 more?) would be offset by less $ on gas.   

Anyway, my specific car still needed to go through the safety inspection, syncing the keys, etc..   We are picking it up on Saturday.  

My last bit of advice I am seeking is what do we expect the sales people to throw at us in a couple days.  We are bringing in our down payment, officially signing, but the salesperson said that they would asking about extended warranties and I suspect other crap.   What should I be prepared for?  Is any extended warranty worth it?  
They hit us up for some treatment to the interior. We said no. The next day when my wife went to finalize payment they were like are you sure you dont want that treatment because we actually applied it already. Wife laughed and said, "hard no." She said she had to go talk to her manager. Lol. Wtf? You have to go get approval to not bill us for the service we already rejected? 

He comes over and makes a big deal about giving away an 899 treatment for free. 

This was in WI(Wilde) so be aware it could be presented. 

 
They hit us up for some treatment to the interior. We said no. The next day when my wife went to finalize payment they were like are you sure you dont want that treatment because we actually applied it already. Wife laughed and said, "hard no." She said she had to go talk to her manager. Lol. Wtf? You have to go get approval to not bill us for the service we already rejected? 

He comes over and makes a big deal about giving away an 899 treatment for free. 

This was in WI(Wilde) so be aware it could be presented. 
Thanks.   We ended up at Zimbrick in Madison via going through the Costco program.  

 
FINALLY got around to getting a new vehicle.   We landed on a 2021 CR-V hybrid.  Wasn't that much more for the hybrid, it had more bells and whistles, and we figured the extra (I think it was $1500 more?) would be offset by less $ on gas.   

Anyway, my specific car still needed to go through the safety inspection, syncing the keys, etc..   We are picking it up on Saturday.  

My last bit of advice I am seeking is what do we expect the sales people to throw at us in a couple days.  We are bringing in our down payment, officially signing, but the salesperson said that they would asking about extended warranties and I suspect other crap.   What should I be prepared for?  Is any extended warranty worth it?  
I haven't read the entire thread, but I probably wouldn't get one on a new car. Used cars, I would consider it to cover the length of my loan.  

 
I haven't read the entire thread, but I probably wouldn't get one on a new car. Used cars, I would consider it to cover the length of my loan.  
I should verify, but I think it's 3yr/36K standard 5yr/60K powertrain standard Honda warranty.  Does that change your answer at all?

 
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FINALLY got around to getting a new vehicle.   We landed on a 2021 CR-V hybrid.  Wasn't that much more for the hybrid, it had more bells and whistles, and we figured the extra (I think it was $1500 more?) would be offset by less $ on gas.   

Anyway, my specific car still needed to go through the safety inspection, syncing the keys, etc..   We are picking it up on Saturday.  

My last bit of advice I am seeking is what do we expect the sales people to throw at us in a couple days.  We are bringing in our down payment, officially signing, but the salesperson said that they would asking about extended warranties and I suspect other crap.   What should I be prepared for?  Is any extended warranty worth it?  
Say no to everything.  It’s like a casino. They’re offering you the wheel protection because in the end the deal statistically favors them, not you. Hard no on everything.  

 
I should verify, but I think it's 3yr/36K standard 5yr/60K powertrain standard Honda warranty.  Does that change your answer at all?
I think you can buy them at anytime, I would look or ask in the one big buying a car thread that was here a few years back.  Most would say no, especially on new vehixles.  If you are looking to keep it for just a few years, I’m probably not buying it.  I did buy one on a car that came off a lease, and the timing chain broke in 6 months, it saved me.  

 
I vote for keeping the RAV4 and just renting something twice a year. Seems much cheaper.

Or hold off long enough until we're not the midst of a vehicle shortage.

 
I vote for keeping the RAV4 and just renting something twice a year. Seems much cheaper.

Or hold off long enough until we're not the midst of a vehicle shortage.
Already a done deal, and the Rav was on it's last legs.  Not sinking more $ into that one.  The CRV isn't any bigger - my wife gave up on that once we saw the $15-20K jump in price to the bigger class of SUV.  

 
i dont have time to read the thread but my only advice is never buy a crv from zimbrock in madison trust me on this take that to the bank brohan

 

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