About 4 years ago, I bought a 2000 Toyota Avalon with approximately 110,000 miles on it for about $7,800. In the four years since, I've added approximately 75,000 miles to it, of which around 45,000 were added in the first two years. At roughly 185,000 miles now, it's decidedly been showing it's age since last summer. I had a $950 brake job last fall, and have had a total of about $2,800 worth of additional work done on it over the preceding 3.5 years, bringing the four year cost of repairs and tires up to about $4,200. At this point, the car is worth maybe $2,500, but on the good side of things, it's paid off. I took it into the shop this past week to have it checked out, since it is WAY overdue for a through checkup and maintenance. The shop came back with two lists of stuff that needs to be done--the safety related stuff that NEEDS to be done in the next few months, and the stuff that needs to be done by the end of the summer.
-Stuff that needs to be done as soon as possible: a bit over $3,300
-Stuff that needs to be done by the end of the summer: an additional $2,600 (including new tires)
Needless to say, I'm not particularly in the mood to pour nearly $6,000 into a car that is worth a good bit less than half that!
Prior to this ever so welcome revelation, I'd planned on either keeping my car for another 2-3 years or so, or getting rid of it next year and leasing a car for another year or two before buying an SUV. Either way, I was planning on buying a new SUV in 2014 or 2015. With this li'l bundle of love tossed in my lap on Friday, I'm on the market for a new car (preferably a small SUV or wagon) NOW.
Totally screwed up my financial planning, but I'm in a much better financial situation now than if this had happened at this time last year. Anyways, after sitting down and poring through my financials, I've determined that I can afford up to $800 a month on a car without affecting my current-debt payoff plan, rent, bill payments, savings, or monthly fun money allotment. A caveat--while I can afford to pay up to $800 a month without affecting my current plan, I sure as hell don't want to spend that much! With that in mind, I've set an effective limit of $600 a month, which opens me up to pretty much any small SUV on the market. I've been doing a lot of research into what's on the market since Friday, ranging the whole gamut from the cheapo Kia Sportage up to the BMW X3. I'm 99% sure I want to lease the vehicle for three years, unless I can get one heck of a good deal on a purchase. The main things I'm looking for, regardless of the particular vehicle, are a full warranty that will last at least three years, decent reliability, and a pretty decent level of luxury. I suppose you could say my Avalon has spoiled me on the luxury front--while it's not in anything near great shape right now, at its heart it's basically a Lexus without the badge. It was in better condition when I bought it, so that's the standard I somewhat subconsciously hold any car I look at to.
Anyways, here are the crossovers/small SUVs that are on my list. I've also included my thoughts for the vehicles I've already test driven.
- Audi Q5: This has long been my dream car. I test drove this car...several times...when it debuted in 2009 and have been in love with it since then. The main new development in the Q5 since 2009 was the introduction in 2011 of a turbocharged 2.0 liter V-4 engined model (the standard one has a 3.2 liter V-6). I took the 2.0T model on a long test drive yesterday and took the 3.2 on a test drive today. Still love it! That being said, I'd go for the 2.0T over the 3.2. It's a good 3-4 grand cheaper, has better gas mileage, and the performance feels about the same for both. Some of the main selling points for the Q5 (either model): verrrrrry nice interior, strong performance, great available options, including what is supposed to be a phenomenal audio system, and plenty of passenger and storage space for my uses. On the downside, it is a luxury SUV, and a three year lease would set me back in the ballpark of $539-600 a month, depending on how much I get for my car. That's at the top of my self imposed price range, but I personally think it's worth it. On a side note, Audi is supposed to bring the European 3.0 liter diesel engine over here in 2013. It apparently has the same performance as the V-6 we currently have, but gets insane gas mileage for an SUV--something in the ballpark of 31 or 32 combined mpg! That's the model that I've been planning all along to get in 2014 or 2015.
- Audi A4 Avant: I'm intrigued by the wagon concept, especially with how the Germans implement it--they manage to make a wagon drive very well, look pretty good, and not make you think of this thing. The A4 and the Q5 have the same chassis, with the A4's main difference being that it rides lower, has a lower interior height, and seems to have a longer body. I wanted to test drive one to see if I like the wagon concept as much in practice as I do in theory, but there don't appear to be any Audi dealers in the area that have any in stock, much less any new ones that I could potentially lease. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be able to test drive one at some point.
- BMW X3: I've been a bit leery about BMW ever since I first looked at SUVs in 2009. I think they're too flashy for my taste, kinda have the d-bag reputation, and I've heard horror stories about repair prices for them. Anyways, I researched the X3 and wasn't impressed. The base price is comparable to the Q5's base price, but almost every.single.thing that you'd want to add is extra. Leather? Extra. Heated seats? Extra. So on and so forth. I priced a X3 out to an equivalent spec level as the Q5, and it came out to be about $5,500 more, which would have put it at around a $750 monthly payment, if not around $800. Nope, that's a no go.
- BMW 3 series wagon: Same cost problem as the X3, so I didn't bother seeing if I could test drive one.
- Hyundai Tucson: I like how this one looks, and it's quite a bit cheaper than the Q5. I'm planning on test driving it next weekend.
- Kia Sportage: I like how the redesigned Sportage looks. A lot. I'm planning on test driving one next weekend. It's substantially cheaper than the Q5, too.
- Mercedes GLK350: Same issue with nickel and dimeing that BMW has, just not *quite* as bad. I test drove the GLK yesterday, and was fairly impressed by the vehicle itself. It's built like a tank, and feels like it, but in a good way. The interior didn't seem quite as nice as the Q5's interior, but that might be because the dealer didn't have a single non-pleather equipped GLK in stock. On the bad side, the fuel economy is terrible--it only gets 21 mpg on the highway! My bank gives a discount on Mercedes, but even with that applied, it's still about $2,000 more than the Q5, and the lease payment is about $650 a month, so it's over my budget. In addition, the sales rep flat out lowballed me on the trade in value of my car by a grand...which was displayed on his computer screen in my line of sight... Dude, that in itself is enough to turn me off to Mercedes. And it's just freaking terrible salesmanship! This one is a no-go.
- Toyota Venza: I'm rather intrigued by this one. I haven't test driven one yet, but I've seen them around and have looked at them online. Looks like it's got some pretty nice option packages, and even fully loaded, is still cheaper than the Q5. Planning to test drive it next weekend.
I intend to lease whatever new vehicle I finally choose within the next few weeks, though worst case scenario, I could wait a month or two before taking the plunge.
So, any thoughts or comments/suggestions?
The Taylors agree: go with Kia!
ReplyDeleteA.