I have a family of 4 2 young kids and a medium sized husband, we are looking at cars and with the price of gas, demise of our planet and cost. I dont know if we should buy a used Honda CRV, or Toyota Rav 4 (dont like what they represent) or the 2004 Volvo wagon. I have not owned either and want someone who owns a Volvo wagon to say “It will be great and not to expensive to fix”
Help us decide
Anyone honest who has owned one won’t be able to say that about a Volvo. It might be great, but repair costs will be higher than average. That’s part of the mystique and joy of owning a European car these days. How about a nice Mazda 6 wagon? If you want fuel efficient there are the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe twins. That is a small wagon, really, they just don’t call it that for marketing reasons.
If you want to save gas and the planet, DON’T BUY A 4WD VEHICLE. They use substantially more gas that an equivalent 2 wheel drive. The perfect vehicle for you would be a Toyota Matrix, Pontiac Vibe, Mazda 3 hatchback,or similar. There is lots of choice.
Agree that anyone who tells you a Volvo is inexpensive to maintain is having someone else pay the bill or is outright lying to you. When owners love their cars they are less than factual when talking about the upkeep expenses!
Matrix/Vibe/Mazda 3 don’t offer a great amount of space. A current generation RAV4(2007+) and CRV in Front wheel drive offer MPG on par with the Mazda 3 and kill it in usable space. A Matrix/Vibe offer a few more MPG but IMHO not worth it on space you get.
On the statement of AWD using substantially more fuel is not really true, typically it is a 1MPG-3MPG penalty for the same given engine/vehicle.