We need a new car. I currently own a Land Rover Discovery and it’s just the biggest POS I’ve ever owned. The wife, however, wants to seriously consider a Land Rover LR4 because she’s heard they are “better” mechanically. Besides the issues I’ve had with it, I just don’t see the need for an over-priced luxury SUV that’s going to haul kids, all the crap, and get covered in food and snot. Lastly, there’s only one Land Rover dealer within hundreds of miles of me and I’m not thrilled with them.
We have 3 kids left at home, so we need something large. The wife won’t consider a mini van and wants an SUV. I’m leaning toward a Honda Pilot or maybe a Toyota Highlander. I’m also looking at 2-4 year old used cars rather than new due to frugality (aka cheapness) on my part.
Any recommendations for a decent used SUV? I take good care of my cars and typically get $200K+ out of them. That’s what I’m hoping for. Any advice on what would be a good compromise for the Land Rover smitten wife?
Get a Consumer Reports Used Car Buyers’ Guide at the local bookstore. Look at the reliability information with your wife, and go from there. Realize that whatever you find on the used car market will need to be thoroughly checked out by a reputable shop before buying.
To continue on the path set by dagosa and texases…ANY OTHER AWD vehicle will be more reliable than ANY Rover product. No matter what other brand you might choose, it will be more reliable than a Rover product.
Rover is one of the makes of luxury vehicles that are promptly dumped by owners once the factory warranty runs out. When the all-too-frequent repairs are done on the mfr’s dime, it is inconvenient, but at least those repairs are free. Once the warranty runs out, Rover vehicles are the poster children for the term “Money Pit”.
How much are you willing to spend? The Disco was quite expensive new, and the LR4 has an MSRP of $55,000. If you are considering a new SUV, the Chevy Suburban will be about the same price. You are basically looking at a full size SUV to carry any reasonable amount of cargo and use all 3 rows. If you treat the Suburban well, it will run for 200,000 miles and then some.
Are you looking for a status symbol or reliable transportation? Do you drive in adverse conditions often enough to justify the expense of a 4WD vehicle?
Your best bet is a good minivan; lots of room and cheap to own and operate.
If, for some reason, you must have an SUV (living in the mountains or rural Minnesota), any of the vehicles mentioned by others will be light years more reliable.
Our neighbors across the street have a mountain cabin and have a Nissan SUV; very reliable.
Thanks all for the good advice. Do I really need an SUV? Probably not. Wife is convinced she wants one, so I can only push so far. We do drive in the snow fairly often, but 4 wheel drive is a dramatically over-rated feature for snow driving, imo.
And yeah, I get it with Land Rovers. The Discovery has not been pleasant to own from cost perspective. I was smart enough to get an extended warranty that paid for itself about 15x. Still a terrible car to own.
Will keep looking and see where I can get us to compromise.
I do not understand the attraction of overgrown SUV’s. We have relatives who have a 7 passenger Honda Odyssey and live in the Colorado mountains. They are on their second one and hope Honda does not discontinue them.
Taste in cars and trucks is not only rational. If it were, we would all drive the same, drab car with the tiny engine. Our real needs in vehicle choice is at most half of what we look for. When I bought my Accord in 2005, I could also have chosen the Malibu and saved a bit of money. But it wasn’t worth it to drive an ugly car with poor handling. It met my requirements for a family car that seated 5 with an automatic transmission, but it met none of my desires.
I’ll try not to be crude, but there’s a phrase I’ve seen somewhere that describes people who make decisions based on looks-materialistic image loving females. One of my college classmate was an ungrateful brat who expressed her displeasure over a brand new Integra that her parents bought her because it was green. I don’t understand how people become that way. Perhaps the adults in the house didn’t set a good examples for the young ducklings
Over the long haul in a competition between a Land Rover and anything I’ll put my money on anything else… And I mean ANYTHING. My old S-10 will beat it hands down. My truck is 24 years old but here in this small rural town I can find a complete distributor in stock at several parts store for less than $100. An alternator likewise. From the AC condenser to rear axle parts everything is in stock and relatively cheap and a 2nd year Vo-Tech student could diagnose and repair most anything on it.
Isn’t everyone familiar with Lucas, Prince of Darkness?
4 wd IS NOT over rated for driving in snow. It is underrated if you don’t have good winter weather traction tires. You will never get the full benefits of 4wd in snow without the tires designed for it the same way you can never go off road with 4wd and expect it to do well without tires designed for it. Generally, you don’t need truck based off road capability it sounds with the driving you are doing. A car based AWD SUV with snow tires will be you best option…most anything but a Jeep or Land Rover is your second best option. Your first options are your best…Highlander, Pilot etc. WITH SNOW TIRES ON SPARE RIMS.