What is the anticipated average annual mileage this vehicle will be driven?
Can you approximate a mix of highway/city driving? (example: 80% highway/20% city).
CSA
"What is the anticipated average annual mileage this vehicle will be driven?
Can you approximate a mix of highway/city driving? (example: 80% highway/20% city).
CSA "
I will be driving about 13k to 15k miles per year, and I will be doing about half and half of highway and city driving
I have problems recommending a car to another person. All I can do is report my experiences with either a vehicle I have owned or a vehicle I have driven for some distance. On a much broader scale, this is all Consumer Reports can do. CR’s tests plus the experiences of its subscribers on a particular make may help narrow down the list of possibilities, but in the end the purchaser has to find the vehicle that fits his or her needs. Sometimes the vehicle selected fits the needs of a particular consumer better than the recommendations of CR. For example, 10 years ago I bought a Chevrolet Uplander minivan. CR didn’t rank this van very high on its list of minivans. Yet, it fit my needs quite well. The Uplander was narrower than competing minivans. To CR, that was a negative, but for me it was a plus because I had to back the van off a busy four lane thoroughfare between a building and a light pole to get to a stage door to load a set of timpani. The Uplander is the only minivan I have ever owned where I could do this without folding in the mirrors. My son now owns the Uplander and it has traveled 180,000 miles with only routine. maintenance, even though CR gives it a poor frequency of repair record. Another example: I once owned a Ford Aerostar minivan. CR criticized it for being “too trucklike”. That is exactly why I liked it. I get the best information I can, but in the end I make the purchase choice on almost everything. The only item where I don’t make the choice is on clothes. Mrs. Triedaq makes those recommendations for me. Before I met Mrs. Triedaq, my clothes were seersucker – clothing that Sears Roebuck’s salesman sold to a sucker.
I second the “stay away from Ford/Lincoln” only if you think you are going to keep it longer than 5 years. Also, the part about having kids in the future is always a bit questionable, too many variables.
Here again I would ask whether the posters owned or drove extended distances in the Ford/Lincoln products and if this is the case, what are the reasons for staying away from Ford/Lincoln models?
I often recommend cars to give people focus. Some years ago a doctor who was very busy and just getting to earn some money asked what 2 cars I would recommend. His wife wanted a station wagon or SUV since she had a dog and did a lot of shopping. They had 2 small children.
Their main vehicle should be good for long distance travel (without the dog) to visit relatives in Texas and be reliable and economical. I ended up recommending a Toyota Camry as their main car and a Ford Taurus station wagon for the wife.
Their choice was a happy one as it turned out…
Doing a “needs analysis” is crucial if you are going to recommend anything. The doctor and his wife had no “prestige” hang ups.
I recommend cars to look at and test drive. If someone asks, I am happy to discuss it with them, as the OP did.
@Triedaq
"Here again I would ask whether the posters owned or drove extended distances in the Ford/Lincoln products and if this is the case, what are the reasons for staying away from Ford/Lincoln models?"
I’m wondering, also. I took others’ advice to use my CR Buying Guide for choosing a car. The Ford Edge, Lincoln MKC and MKZ look like worthy candidates to me.
I don’t buy Fords, just never have, but if they come out tops in filling the needs/wants of the shopper, and they’re on the list of candidates, I’d never recommend staying away from them. I know many guys at the country club who buy them and love them.
If I had used my CR guides and magazines (Great publications, I’m a long time subscriber, on sale everywhere! Get yours, today!) exclusively to choose my cars, I would have missed out on some truly wonderful cars. Some of the best cars I’ve owned were not rated highly there. Some of the best cars I’ve owned were rated highly there. I’ve had great success with “used cars to avoid.”
Not all the ratings apply to all sub-models, engine/transmission, options, etcetera, configurations. One needs to do some online homework in that regard.
That said, I have used them to alert me of cars that have low headroom or small trunk openings or cramped rear seats… that type of thing.
CSA
Consumer Reports is a valuable source of info for car buyers. I have subscribed for decades. But I don’t limit myself to vehicles they recommend. Back in the 1970s the Fiat 128 was highly recommended by CR. I bought one and liked a lot of things about it, but reliability and rust resistance were awful. That was probably one of CR’s most egregious auto recommendations.
More recently, my wife and I have bought two used Chrysler Corp. minivans (a 1999 Plymouth Voyager and then a 2007 Chrysler Town and Country.). They are on CR’s list of used cars to avoid because of lower than average reliability. But they are plentiful, affordable, and reliable enough. Remember that nowaday’s worse-than-average reliability is a lot more reliable than yesteryear’s better than average.
I bought a CR highly rated car, the 1999 Honda Civic, new and it is the best car I have ever had. It’s been well maintained and is going strong at 169,000 miles.
“Here again I would ask whether the posters owned or drove extended distances in the Ford/Lincoln products and if this is the case, what are the reasons for staying away from Ford/Lincoln models?”
I have. Many times over the years. I haven’t like any of them that I’ve driven over the past 40 years. I guess I’m just not a Ford man.
And, yet, I wish I still had my '64 Fairlane. They were great back then. 
I loved my mom’s 1964 Cadillac, but the fond memories might have basis in being over 50 years old. That’s the one car from the past I think I would like to buy. I wonder if I would be as enthusiastic if I actually drove one?
I had a Lincoln MKZ as a rental for a couple of days. I liked the ride, but the infotainment system was a nightmare. That was several years ago, though.
With just your dog, I’d say cut your budget in half and leave the rest for when you buy your kidmobile.
I think back up cameras are supposed to be standard equipment by now on all new cars. Not sure about BSM, but that seems to be pretty standard fare these days anyways.
I have to question your want for cross traffic alert, lane keeping assist forward collision detection and auto braking, though. A good, watchful eye on the road ahead will do all these things for you. Do you allow your dog free roam of the car while you are driving?