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January 15, 2006
Another car
The 3 is broken again and the Benz still needs some tuning to work, much less be a reliable car. So, I find myself thinking that I should buy a really dependable car. Dan of course loves his BMW and I still think the Mercedes is a great car, but there are several useful purposes that neither of them fulfills.
Aside from reliability we currently don’t have a solution for moving all of our stuff (which will have to happen in a few months). We also don’t have a very comfortable way to fit many people. A 4 wheel drive option would also be nice.
Ok, so there is the frame of mind. We were originally talking about a used 4Runner. They are pretty reliable cars. I am kind of at the point thought that I like the idea of having one new car — something that we don’t have to wonder about at all. Not only the fear factor or buying used, but having a little more flexibility in the car adds bonus points to a new car.
As for new cars here are the three we went and looked at today.
Toyota RAV4
Honda Element
Honda CR-V
So far, I like the RAV4. I think all told it will be a bit more than the others though. Any thoughts on these or other comparable vehicles?
Posted by layla at January 15, 2006 5:47 PM
Comments
They're all SUVs. That surprises me somehow.
I know a few people who have Elements, and they all love them. I am amazed at how roomy they are inside.
The CR-V gets better gas mileage out of the three. All of them get better than I expected, which is still fairly low for a new car.
Check on Edmunds Honda and Toyota for satisfaction ratings and stuff. From there, it looks like the Element is the most liked of the three (9.8 Consumer rating, the others are 9.0).
Posted by: Bill Weiss at January 16, 2006 9:47 AM
Oh, yea, I forgot to mention I was specifically looking at SUVs (slightly small end of SUVs)
The reason is that we do have needs to move stuff around. So for that either an SUV or a truck makes sense. The SUV will also carry groups of people.
It wouldn't be used for long drives often so it wouldn't see a huge number of miles.
Posted by: Layla at January 16, 2006 7:32 PM
Oh, I also forgot to mention that the Element seems very useful, and pretty neat, but a bit goofy.
Posted by: Layla at January 16, 2006 7:33 PM
The Element only seats 4, which sucks.
Posted by: Jarrod Lombardo at January 17, 2006 1:40 PM
Not to mention that it is pretty silly in some ways.
The inside of the RAV4 is much better than either of the others (not in tan though).
Posted by: Layla at January 17, 2006 8:35 PM
Bill, the RAV4 actually wins on MPG :-)
CR-V (4WD)22/27
RAV4 (4WD)23/28
Posted by: Layla at January 19, 2006 7:57 AM
The Element just screams "Toaster!" to me and I love Hondas.
Posted by: aquafemme at January 25, 2006 11:46 AM
Posted by: milkman at January 25, 2006 6:07 PM