I am planning on purchasing a new SUV next year. My budget is $50,000 (or less) and I would appreciate advice on what type(s) of cars I should look at when we are ready to buy. To date I have driven the Acadia (GMC), Equinox (Chevy) and Expedition (Ford). I figure for the amount of money I have I should be able to get something that has good performance, is roomy, has decent gas mileage and has a fair amount of options. I haven’t purchased a car in 8 years so I’m not sure how to limit my search. Any advice would be greatly appreciated; thank you!
Use web site Edmunds.com. It is a good site for lots of info and research.
Your biggest decision is the size of the SUV you need. They come in very small, small, medium, large, and huge sizes. Once you have the space and requirements you need (towing capacity for instance) then you can use research to narrow down your choices. Your focus thus far seems to be on mid-size SUV’s.
If you’ll tell us how many people and how much stuff you need to carry, that’ll be a start. “Roomy” means lots of different things.
Judging by the OP’s test drives, it seems like he’s looking into the “medium” range for SUVs. (Unless I’m getting my GM products confused. But assuming I’m not, I’m going to continue…) The Acadia and Equinox will be the same vehicle. Just that one says GMC and the other says Chevrolet.
Personally, I DO like a lot of the things that Ford has been doing lately with almost all of their vehicles. My only real dislikes are the Fiesta and the Focus. I haven’t been in a new Flex, so I can’t speak for them. I know that I DO HATE the styling of the originaly model year Flex. Maybe they’ve redesigned them, but I don’t know. Doesn’t sound like you’re looking for something quite so big, anyway.
Ultimately, Edmonds.com will be a good resource for the ownership of the vehicle. Since I work at a car rental agency, I’m in a lot of different cars that are almost all 2012 or newer. I can’t speak for longevity or ownership cost, but I can tell you that a lot of people like the 2013 Explorers we rent.
The Acadia twin is the Chevy Traverse, the Equinox is one size down.
It’s be worth it for the OP to get the Consumer Reports car buying guide, lots of info to start narrowing down choices.
@texases wrote:
The Acadia twin is the Chevy Traverse, the Equinox is one size down.
Okay. That sounds right. I had a figuring I was getting something backwards. We don’t have too many Acadias in our fleet at the moment. All in all, however, generally in the “medium” range. You could argue that the Acadia is bigger than medium, but it’s definitely no Yukon.
To the OP: …and I also like Hyundai products. Might be worth researching. Again, I can only really speak for styling, but they’re pretty slick nowadays.
IMHO, the best way to limit your search is to start with a comsumer magazine buyer’s guide for pickups from the local bookstore. That’s the best way to lay all your options out before you.
The GMC Acadia, Chevy Traverse, and Buick Enclave are all built on the same chassis. The GMC Terrain is similar to the Equinox, only boxy. The Expedition is similar to the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. The expedition EL, if that is what you drove, is similar to the GMC Yukon XL and Chevy Suburban.
And that doesn’t include the Dodge, Jeep, Honda or Toyota offerings. Decide what you want the truck for first. If ti is only street driving, you don’t need 4WD or even AWD. If you want them that’s a different issue. If you don’t need 3 rows, the smaller SUVs might be a better choice. Give us an idea what you want in features and maybe we can help.
For $50k, look at a Toyota Hylander hybrid.
Ok, thank you all; this is great. I agree with you all (Y’all if you prefer) that we are interested in a mid sized SUV. I like the Acadia and the Traverse; we looked at the Toyota once and will look at it again. No towing or off road (I was thinking AWD but don’t know if the extra cost is worth it for highway and local driving).
I thought the Expedition EL was a little too big; but if it is the same as the Acadia maybe it just felt too large. I haven’t looked at any other manufacturers (Infinity, Honda, Mopar, BMW, Volvo, etc…). I will start with Edmonds and work from there. But keep the comments coming; this is a big purchase for us (my wife usually gets the new cars, this will be my first in 23+ years). I want to make sure we get it right; thank you.
Also, I think we want 3 row seating; AWD is not necessary.
Lol; one last item before I sign off; I drive a lot of miles for my job (2,500 - 3,000 per month).
First on my list, given what you’ve said: Acura MDX. Roomy, 3 rows (as long as 3rd row not for daily use), good performance, decent mpgs, high quality.
Decent gas mileage?? Your definition of decent gas mileage is completely different then mine. SUV’s are NOT the best on gas mileage. 20-22 is about the BEST you’re going to get.
Decent, compared to other 3 row SUVs (the topic of discussion).
Right, I should have said decent gas mileage for an SUV. My mechanic is high on the Toyota Highlander. He says we should get 250,000 - 300,000 good miles and that it will last a lot longer than the GM or Fords. I asked about the Lexus and he said it was as good as the Toyota (more luxurious but more expensive).
Problem with the RX350 is that it’s a 2 row only SUV. The Venza is the Toyota equivalent, worth a look if you go with a 2 row SUV. The Highlander’s a good choice, just make sure the 3rd row meets your needs, it’s kind of tight.
We have a 2003 Toyota 4Runner which has been very reliable and gets reasonable (24 mpg) on the highway. The new models do have 3 rows of seats, but have been redesigned. I haven’t driven one, but it should be a reliable vehicle.
Last summer, we flew to Bakersfield, California and rented a Chevrolet Traverse which we drove 1000 miles in all types of terrain. This had three rows of seats and we were impressed with the vehicle.
The Highlander Hybrid has 3 rows and gets 28 MPG in both city and highway driving. What color do you want?