Drives Like Lightning...

Jul 25, 2007 - Decisions, decisions...

My friends Scott and his wife Reiko have been looking around for a car/suv for a long while now.  Okay, maybe not that long but it's been at least a couple of months now- in Rex time, that's quite long- hey, a week is a VERY long time.  Hahaha!  They're expecting their first child in October (i think- right?  CONGRATS AGAIN!!!) and this prompted the sale of his beloved track/drift car: the 240sx.  The search and criteria for the vehicle have gone from SUVs to wagons, leather or cloth, navigation system or not.  I've suggested the Murano, the Legacy/Outback Wagon, the VUE, the Outlook, etc.  Their target range is roughly $25k-$30k.  Reiko doesn't want leather because it burns your buns after a hot day in the sun and leather has that sticky effect in the summer when you have shorts.  So we looked into ventilated/cooled seats.  Unfortunately, nothing in that price range- new anyways.  We talked over their "needs".  Whenever I give advice, I break it down to "needs", "wants", "misc"- where needs are the MUST HAVES, wants are the would like but it's not critical and misc. is the "fluff" like, 6 CD changer or dual illuminated vanity mirrors.  This is what we broke it down to:

Needs: Cargo space (with a kid on the way, you need room for a stroller, etc.), ample room for passengers, larger car/suv

Wants: NO LEATHER or ventilated/cooled seats, Navigation system (due to the inclusion of a back-up camera), higher ride height

Misc: nothing really...  which makes things slightly easier...

Now you can see why I picked the vehicles I mentioned earlier.  The Saturns are great bargains and are very nicely designed nowadays.  The quality has gone up from previous years and the interior is quite comfortable.  It still has its flaws, but c'mon- for the amount of car you're getting for the money, it's pretty reasonable.  I can go on but to make a long story short, we've settled on...  **DRUM ROLL PLEASE**

A CERTIFIED USED 2003-2005 Acura MDX.  (preferably Touring w/Nav. but we'll see what we can do there).  So we started searching around on AutoTrader and found a couple of good deals.  One has about 50k miles, is a MY2003 and is priced at $23k.  Another has about 70k miles, also a MY2003 and is priced at $26k due to the Touring trim and Nav. package.  While I see the argument for either car, personally I side with the car that has less mileage.  That means I have more time with the car in its lifecycle.  It gets scary when it's so close to 100k miles because that's when major maintenance starts taking place.  I can also just get an aftermarket nav system like the TomTom or Garmin.  But to pay another $3k to get the "tech goodies", is a bargain.  This is where budget comes in and how you want to prioritize your needs/wants.  There will be compromise but thankfully, in our society, you're not completely lost- you can get things to add on in due time.  Ultimately, I told him that they'll just have to check it out for themselves.  So we'll see how things go.  If I go with them I'll post up our findings...

4:53 pm | Categories: car buying, advice, suvs Permalink | Alert Administrator

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