Sharp11
01-06-2008, 12:51 AM
I had errands to do today, so I thought I'd scout out some potential vehicles for my wife, who as some of you know, is experiencing severe back issues.
We need something easier on her than her current car (which she really loves) an 05 Outback Wagon.
My goal, before dragging my wife out to the car lots, was to get a general feel for some of the issues on the list Clyde generously supplied - looking at cars in such a "focused" manner was quite illuminating (oy, that hurt, sorry) and, without even a test drive, noticed and considered some things I'd never thought of before.
First up, the Volvo dealer:
Do they want to sell cars? Apparently not, but drinking coffee and yakking it up in the back room seemed popular with the sales force at this particular dealership.
Man did they have cars to sell, cars on top of cars - you'd have thought Volvo dropped its entire year's allocation of north american cars on their lot :eeps:
I wanted to see and open the doors on the new XC70 - while waiting for an administrative person to open up the XC70 out front (she had to interrupt the sales guys drinking coffee) I pored over the XC90 in the showroom. It was nice, but surprisingly small-feeling inside, in a good way, it didn't feel like a big car and it was easy as pie to get into - I noted the wide aperture for the doors and the low door sills, however, down where your ankles slide out, the base of the cowl was far back toward the driver. Not so good. The seats were great.
Ahh, there she is, she's located the remote fob, and off I go to the XC70. The car looks nice, it's a nice update on the old design, sleeker and less awkward.
The doors are nice and light (good), but the leather seats are slippery - I slid in and almost hit the floor :yikes:, but they had one fantastic feature for easy ingress/egress: the side bolsters deformed as you sat on them - forming a completely flat surface. The foam would bound back after getting off the seat. Neat!! The seats were not as comfy as in the XC90, but the slippery leather made rotating to get out a snap.
The rest of the car felt a lot like the Outback, only a wee bit bigger. It did not feel like a 43k car sitting there, the trim felt cheap and cardboard-like with a lot of deformation of the interior panels when pressed - especially the door panels. Still, I'd like to put it on the test drive list.
Onto the Honda dealer:
Right out front before walking in, a Honda Odyssey manager's special, an EXL loaded with all kinds of junk and bling - for 32k. Not bad, but it gets better.
Inside the showroom, they had an EX level Pilot, with everything but a leather interior, including side running boards, it was listed at a "special" price of 29,900. Marked down some 3 or 4 k.
It was really nice, the running boards provided a step, the sills were very low and the seats flat but supportive - once inside, the ergonomics, in typical Honda fashion (and something I'd forgotten) seemed just right - superb even. The thing had nice touches everywhere and the interior materials seemed just right for this class of vehicle; sturdy but nice. It seemed better made than the Volvos, as much as one could tell by examining static vehicles.
Outside, I sat in the minivan - it had the best access of the day, low to the ground, no sill, lots of room, but when I turned around to look behind me, I felt as if I needed to address the class - three rows of seats that go waaaaay back, with arms and fold-down center stacks and seatbelts everywhere - it seemed huge, but the Odyssey gets better mileage than the smaller Pilot, by about 2 to 3 MPG and C&D and CR like its handling - a lot :dunno: (I noted its 55/45 weight distribution - sure, it's the length of the average suburban cul de sac, eventually all that FWD stuff gets mitigated).
Finally, I checked out very carefully, the new CRV. They had a fully equipped EXL with nav model. It was fantastic - again, the roof was nice and high, the door openings wide (and easy to get into with the door partially opened) the seats comfortable (though smaller than the Pilot and Odyssey), it too was available with the running board option. It's the lightest (by far) of the trio and gets the best EPA. It might be a tad underpowered, but a test drive will reveal.
The salesman was peeling thousand-dollar increments off the price of the Pilot and Odyssey (but stopped short of doing so for the CRV) without me even asking about price. He even said this: "I can get you into a brand new Pilot EX for the mid 20's" Whoa......
Honestly, of the three, the Pilot felt right, it's smaller than the van, but larger than the CRV. It has perfect ingress (however, the wife really needs to determine that) and it seemed like it'd be quite nice for trips. It was heavy as sin though (4500lbs) and I'd imagine, expensive to run, but at 25 for a luxurious, well built quality vehicle, it'd be tough to beat.
I learned when I came home, January is "pilot month" at this dealership, since they've got 30 Pilots, all EX's and EXL's, I don;t need to hurry - much more to consider anyway.
Ed
We need something easier on her than her current car (which she really loves) an 05 Outback Wagon.
My goal, before dragging my wife out to the car lots, was to get a general feel for some of the issues on the list Clyde generously supplied - looking at cars in such a "focused" manner was quite illuminating (oy, that hurt, sorry) and, without even a test drive, noticed and considered some things I'd never thought of before.
First up, the Volvo dealer:
Do they want to sell cars? Apparently not, but drinking coffee and yakking it up in the back room seemed popular with the sales force at this particular dealership.
Man did they have cars to sell, cars on top of cars - you'd have thought Volvo dropped its entire year's allocation of north american cars on their lot :eeps:
I wanted to see and open the doors on the new XC70 - while waiting for an administrative person to open up the XC70 out front (she had to interrupt the sales guys drinking coffee) I pored over the XC90 in the showroom. It was nice, but surprisingly small-feeling inside, in a good way, it didn't feel like a big car and it was easy as pie to get into - I noted the wide aperture for the doors and the low door sills, however, down where your ankles slide out, the base of the cowl was far back toward the driver. Not so good. The seats were great.
Ahh, there she is, she's located the remote fob, and off I go to the XC70. The car looks nice, it's a nice update on the old design, sleeker and less awkward.
The doors are nice and light (good), but the leather seats are slippery - I slid in and almost hit the floor :yikes:, but they had one fantastic feature for easy ingress/egress: the side bolsters deformed as you sat on them - forming a completely flat surface. The foam would bound back after getting off the seat. Neat!! The seats were not as comfy as in the XC90, but the slippery leather made rotating to get out a snap.
The rest of the car felt a lot like the Outback, only a wee bit bigger. It did not feel like a 43k car sitting there, the trim felt cheap and cardboard-like with a lot of deformation of the interior panels when pressed - especially the door panels. Still, I'd like to put it on the test drive list.
Onto the Honda dealer:
Right out front before walking in, a Honda Odyssey manager's special, an EXL loaded with all kinds of junk and bling - for 32k. Not bad, but it gets better.
Inside the showroom, they had an EX level Pilot, with everything but a leather interior, including side running boards, it was listed at a "special" price of 29,900. Marked down some 3 or 4 k.
It was really nice, the running boards provided a step, the sills were very low and the seats flat but supportive - once inside, the ergonomics, in typical Honda fashion (and something I'd forgotten) seemed just right - superb even. The thing had nice touches everywhere and the interior materials seemed just right for this class of vehicle; sturdy but nice. It seemed better made than the Volvos, as much as one could tell by examining static vehicles.
Outside, I sat in the minivan - it had the best access of the day, low to the ground, no sill, lots of room, but when I turned around to look behind me, I felt as if I needed to address the class - three rows of seats that go waaaaay back, with arms and fold-down center stacks and seatbelts everywhere - it seemed huge, but the Odyssey gets better mileage than the smaller Pilot, by about 2 to 3 MPG and C&D and CR like its handling - a lot :dunno: (I noted its 55/45 weight distribution - sure, it's the length of the average suburban cul de sac, eventually all that FWD stuff gets mitigated).
Finally, I checked out very carefully, the new CRV. They had a fully equipped EXL with nav model. It was fantastic - again, the roof was nice and high, the door openings wide (and easy to get into with the door partially opened) the seats comfortable (though smaller than the Pilot and Odyssey), it too was available with the running board option. It's the lightest (by far) of the trio and gets the best EPA. It might be a tad underpowered, but a test drive will reveal.
The salesman was peeling thousand-dollar increments off the price of the Pilot and Odyssey (but stopped short of doing so for the CRV) without me even asking about price. He even said this: "I can get you into a brand new Pilot EX for the mid 20's" Whoa......
Honestly, of the three, the Pilot felt right, it's smaller than the van, but larger than the CRV. It has perfect ingress (however, the wife really needs to determine that) and it seemed like it'd be quite nice for trips. It was heavy as sin though (4500lbs) and I'd imagine, expensive to run, but at 25 for a luxurious, well built quality vehicle, it'd be tough to beat.
I learned when I came home, January is "pilot month" at this dealership, since they've got 30 Pilots, all EX's and EXL's, I don;t need to hurry - much more to consider anyway.
Ed