You already have a list. Your budget is pretty generous. You should get out there and sit in the cars, test drive them and then get an idea of whether that particular car would work for you. You have some luxury brands along with some basic ones, so they are going to be somewhat different. Also, spend some time on edmunds.com and youtube and read/watch car reviews at your leisure.
The dog really determines what you will buy! Seriously! A sedan is out of the question with kids and a dog. It looks that on your list the Acura RDX comes closest to meeting your needs.
The Hyundai is also an excellent choice. On long trips you will want a roof rack for your luggage and use the back of the hatch for the dog. Or you can put the dog in a kennel.
All the extras you want are available on the above cars.
I would avoid the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKC as well as the Nissans.
If you did not have a dog the Toyota Avalon would be my choice.
We drove 2000 miles last summer in a 2016 Santa Fe Sport that we rented. It had 200 miles on the odometer when we left the rental agency. I think our road mileage was close to 30 mpg. It had plenty of room and seemed quite stable on the road. Our own vehicles are a 2003 Toyota 4Runner and a 2011 Toyota Sienna. The Santa Fe Sport was as comfortable as either of our personal vehicles. The reason we had the rental was that we flew from Indiana to Salt Lake City and then drove through the northwest. We returned the Santa Fe Sport after making a big loop back to Salt Lake City. If I weren’t continually transporting passengers with their musical instruments, I would consider swapping the Sienna for a Santa Fe Sport. My wife, however, would never give up her 4Runner. I can’t comment on sedans. I really dislike the low seating position in today’s conventional sedans.
"The dog really determines what you will buy! Seriously! A sedan is out of the question with kids and a dog. It looks that on your list the Acura RDX comes closest to meeting your needs.
The Hyundai is also an excellent choice. On long trips you will want a roof rack for your luggage and use the back of the hatch for the dog. Or you can put the dog in a kennel.
All the extras you want are available on the above cars.
I would avoid the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKC as well as the Nissans.
If you did not have a dog the Toyota Avalon would be my choice. "
Any specific reason why Ford, Lincoln, or Nissan wouldn’t be a good idea?
Thank you!
Ha ha ha. I think he meant an automatic “BRAKING” system, not an automatic “BREAKING” system. Funny how the mis-use of one word could change an entire contract or warranty. Personally, I’d put the breaking system wording in just to be able to say to the customer: “of course it broke, that’s what the automatic breaking system is for.”
Seriously getting vehicle recommendations from an internet forum is kind of silly. I have looked at vehicles I liked but my wife didn’t and the other way around. There are really good vehicles out there but I still don’t want some of them. When I go into the garage I want to see vehicles that I like for us and that we want to drive.
We have a friend that has a vehicle they are thrilled with but I don’t even want it my drive.
Of the vehicles you listed, were it me, I’d get the TLX (get the 4-cylinder version since you don’t care about performance), followed by the RDX. Very nice, comfortable cars which should be good and reliable.
They’ll hold their resale value well too, for when you sell the car in 5 years.
Narrow it down by looking. Then rent one or two finalists and try it/them out for a variety of driving, including some long road trips. Make sure you can live happily with your decision. CSA
It sounds like that no matter what you buy it will be gone in 3 to 5 years due to family constraints so if it were me I wouldn’t get too overboard with a car purchase. Depreciation is a killer.
If hauling the dog around is a must then I’d say an SUV or crossover of some type.
The April issue of Consumer Reports is a good compendium of their test results, owner feedback, frequency of repair data, good bets in used cars, etc. CR also puts out a car buying guide every year or so.
I suggest you consider a Jeep Cherokee Limited with the 4-cylinder engine. I had one of these as a rental for a week, and it was my favorite of the 5 SUVs I had over a two month project in Utah. Since you will keep it for 5 years at most, lower reliability from a Jeep vs. other brands is a minor issue. You won’t own it long enough to find out if it is reliable or not. It was the most comfortable and the infotainment system was easy to use. Drive ability was excellent as well, even though it had the 4-cyl. A 2016 optioned the way you want will be about $30,600 after discounts and rebates. Just because you can spend $45,000 doesn’t mean you have to.
I suggest you spend your first $10 on a Consumer Reports New Car Buyers’ Guide at the local bookstore. Cross off all those that are definite “nots” and highlight all those that look interesting to you. Then enjoy weekends for a few months doing test drives (bring the dog) and making notes.
It’s folly to let someone else pick a vehicle out for you over the internet. Everyone is different. Our preferences, driving environments, driving styles, utility needs, tolerance for unforeseen reliability problems, height, weight, reach, leg length, and significant others (if mama’s not happy, NOBODY’S happy) are all different. Way, way, way too many variables.
“It’s folly to let someone else pick a vehicle out for you over the internet. Everyone is different.”
Yup!
I would no sooner ask somebody to decide what I should eat for dinner than I would ask someone to decide which car I should buy, and that comes with the reality that a dinner is a relatively cheap one-night happening, and a car tends to be a very expensive purchase that is kept for several years.
As mountainbike suggests, the OP needs to buy a copy of the Consumer Reports New Car Buyers’ Guide (available at Barnes & Noble and some other large newsstands) and study that magazine-format publication carefully in order to come up with a list of likely candidates for purchase. Once the OP has a workable list, then he needs to visit showrooms and to take extended test drives in order to find the right vehicle for his needs.
