SUV thoughts

[bren]

Reliability may be questionable, but even after adding an extended warranty you aren't going to beat the new grand cherokee for features/value.

[wdc330i]

I love our X5. Great hwy vehicle. And they do depreciate comparably to a 5 series, so you can get deals on lightly used ones. Mine is a 2009 and has been nearly trouble free (just a nav unit replaced under warranty.) Mine is a 3.0, so a little sluggish from a dead stop but then it gets moving surprisingly well give the power/weight ratio.

I'd prolly opt for a 2010 diesel, if I were going used.

[dan]

We love our CX-9. No issues whatsoever in 2.5 years.

[RMR]

I recommend the MDX. The SH-AWD on our RDX is just incredible. Great snow traction and it also provides amazing dry and wet handling. Plus Honda reliability trumps all. I have put 98k miles on our Pilot in 37 months and not a thing has ever gone wrong. Honda/Acura quality is the best IMO.

[Josh (PA)]

Thanks for the thoughts. I was thinking lightly used. 1 or 2 yr old CPO MDXs can be had for mid 30s. Same for Q7s from 3yrs ago, but from the reliability reviews they seem pretty scary. I'll do a deeper dive into the price of X5s, I was a little afraid of the 3.0TT, but would really dig the diesel. Tomorrow we're going to drive the MDX, CX-9 and Volvo. If I can find an X5 I'll add that to the list too. I expect driving impressions will push the volvo to the bottom of the pile and the sheer number of MDXs available spec'ed as we'd like will push us in that direction.

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

Thanks for the thoughts. I was thinking lightly used. 1 or 2 yr old CPO MDXs can be had for mid 30s. Same for Q7s from 3yrs ago, but from the reliability reviews they seem pretty scary. I'll do a deeper dive into the price of X5s, I was a little afraid of the 3.0TT, but would really dig the diesel. Tomorrow we're going to drive the MDX, CX-9 and Volvo. If I can find an X5 I'll add that to the list too. I expect driving impressions will push the volvo to the bottom of the pile and the sheer number of MDXs available spec'ed as we'd like will push us in that direction.

I found turbo lag on the XC90 pretty terrible when I test drove one.

[JST]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

I found turbo lag on the XC90 pretty terrible when I test drove one.

I think I'd go for the V8 in that one.

[lupinsea]

We had an XC90 as a loner car when my wife Volvo was in the shop for some maintenance items that they had to keep the car overnight for. So I had a chance to drive it around.

Holy crap did it feel like a barge. I didn't run into anything but it just felt big. And look at it, using it a bit. . . it didn't seem like there was THAT much extra interior cargo volume than our Volvo V50 wagon. There was a little more height to the cabin but I was left with the though that for such a tall, big vehicle, why isn't there more cargo volume.

Don't write-off the Ford Explorer without driving it. Ditto for the Grand Cherokee.

Oh, I don't know how new you want but I think next year they are bringing out a diesel engine for the Grand Cherokee.

Hm...

I might have missed something but what are your need from the SUV? What do you plan on using it for? Towing? Seating capacity? Other?

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by lupinsea

We had an XC90 as a loner car when my wife Volvo was in the shop for some maintenance items that they had to keep the car overnight for. So I had a chance to drive it around.

Holy crap did it feel like a barge. I didn't run into anything but it just felt big. And look at it, using it a bit. . . it didn't seem like there was THAT much extra interior cargo volume than our Volvo V50 wagon. There was a little more height to the cabin but I was left with the though that for such a tall, big vehicle, why isn't there more cargo volume.

Don't write-off the Ford Explorer without driving it. Ditto for the Grand Cherokee.

Oh, I don't know how new you want but I think next year they are bringing out a diesel engine for the Grand Cherokee.

Hm...

I might have missed something but what are your need from the SUV? What do you plan on using it for? Towing? Seating capacity? Other?

We like the 7 seats of the SUV to haul our 3 kids + friends to one of their 4 soccer team practices or Nate's Lacrosse practice. I do a boatload of gardening, so I'm always hauling dirty pots or other crap in the back. We have a dog, we ski, canoe and kayak, so it's nice having something that we can load up with our gear and get dirty. We have a smallish offroad go kart that we haul from place to place, and we occasionally trailer a rented wood chipper, our lawn tractor, etc. Basically it's our family hauler + our hobbies enabler.
I thought the Jeep GC only had 5 seats, does it come with a 3rd row option now?

[Josh (PA)]

Our '04 MDX had 115,000 miles on it and was starting to have some transmission concerns, so today we set out to replace it. After a bunch of research on the various models in this thread, the newer MDXs had risen to the top of our potential list. I found one at a local dealer that was the color combo, options and miles that we were hoping for. We checked it out, and got a price for it with trade. We then went to another couple of places to see if they could beat the price and along the way checked out a CX-9. Long story short, the best deal was at the first place so we went back and got it done.

It's an '08 MDX with 22,900 miles. Tan interior, tech package (which includes Nav, Bluetooth, etc), the step up running boards. They installed new Michelin Lattitude tires as part of the deal. We got $12k in trade for our old Acura (which I thought was more than fair) and this one for $32k ($20k delta). Interest rates were very low (3.3%) so we decided to finance the difference. We were also able to get a 5yr/100k Zurich comprehensive warranty for less than $2k so at the end of the day we have a decent truck that fits our needs with a better warranty than Acura offers at a deal that I thought was pretty decent.

It drives a lot nicer than our old one and has significantly better (more supportive and comfortable) seats and driving position. The old MDX felt like something I could put up with because it met my family's needs. So far this one seems like something I'll just enjoy being in. We'll see how it grows on me.