Finally got some time to go look at 2017 MDX base with SH-AWD.
1. MDX looks ok, interior is Japanese luxury. Not as nice as German but decent, probably wear better though..
A lot of standard features plus semi-automatic driving safety features. Odd that it had lane control as standard so if detects you starting drifting into the other lane it corrects it for you. Yet it does not have blind spot monitor as standard which I actually want for these big to me cars.
Driving wise- wife had no complaints but I basically hated it. Power was there but you had to really shove down the throttle to activate it. Had drive modes that didn't seem to do anything. Finally the steering was wacky, if you did some semi-aggressive steering movement it seemed to try to counter steer against you. My guess it was the safety features working against me. So much computer controlled safety crap going I feft I was barely driving the car. No clue if the SH-AWD was under there but to be fair did not drive any decent roads since industrial area. But I can't see the car being fun to drive anyways on a mountain road.
2. I wanted to try out the Costco car buying plan. The costco dealer would not tell me the pre-arranged price over the phone. Said it was an costco policy because there was complaints about giving the price over the phone
The san diego approved dealer was at the opposite end of the county so not exactly handy to get to.
Price ended up being ok but about $1500 over what I expected. Leasing seem ok, 3 years at 15k for $570 with nothing down. I think it was $26k buyout. Dealer would not let me take the pricing info. If wife decides she wants it I would probably prefer to lease so I can walk away.
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We checked out the 4-runner with the third row. Third row is tight, more of like jump seats but I think that is basically what they are for anyways, temp kids seats. We didnt have time to drive one but guessing the wife will not like it. We will go back and drive one plus check out a new highlander
Also need to check cx-9 awd. On paper this seems like the best car, kind of in the middle of cost, luxury and still has decent gas mileage. Hoping it drives better then the mdx which I think it should based on the reviews.
and yes worlds slowest car buying process.