Thinking about getting a new car

Not new new, but new slightly used. Something in the 2001-2005 range. Any suggestions on what I should look at. I want reliability, and either a sedan or a small SUV. Something I can carry my 90 pound dog around in when I take him places. Something fairly good on gas, and rides nice and smooth. Anyone have anything they may want to recommend that I can research?

Thanks guys!

Mazada Tribute
Not the 2001 though..
I have a 2002 and paid $10k for it..or my gma did!
Best car you can get! I swear! When my cuz and I were going to have it looked at by a mazda person (befor I bought it, so it still had all the stickers on it) we were at a gas station and this man walks up to us and is like "BUY THIS CAR! I bought one last year and its the best car I have ever owned"
I have a LXV6
They have so much power and are so nice..
A full tank will get you well over 300 miles!
They are really smooth too! You can go over a speed bump at like 35 and its suprisingly smooth..just not good for the car
I personally think they look best in Black. (thats what I have)
I love mine and wouldnt trade it for a anything!!

P.S.
If you dont buy this car you dumb!
lol jk but it really is a great car!

Jeep Cherokee.. do you like those?

I adore my 2001 Toyota RAV4. When I take out the back seats, I can fit a large VariKennel plus two large dogs in the back. Otherwise, they are just folded up for general use and I can fit three loose big dogs in the back with plenty of room. I've also gone camping in this and was able to lay out my sleeping back and sleep in the back, as did my 5'11" boyfriend at the time. Just scoot the front seats all the way up.

I got between 30-32 mpg on the highway the last time I took a roadtrip, and average about 24-27 mpg in the city. It's got a great turning radius, though I'm not terribly thrilled with it's handling abilities in the snow. I'm going to add some weighted sandbags and see if that helps any. Otherwise, that's about the only complaint I have.

I got mine for just over $15,000 with 48,000 miles on it. And it's Toyota, so you know it's going to last for freaking ever.

for a car maybe a sentra gxe. We fit a 75 lb shepard mix a 100 lb saint and a greyhound or two in it with 3 people

I'd say a cherokee or maybe nissans smaller suv,can't remember what its called though.

My cuz has a cherokee and she says it will scare her so bad shell have to pull over for a few mins sometimes..
They are top heavy, hydroplain easily, and very jerky..

Well, I have Consumer Reports and it rates a lot of the Hondas very highly, a lot of the Toyotas very highly, Lexus and Infinity are also rated very highly. It is pretty cool, my boss let me borrow it and you can look up almost any kind of car and year and it will tell you if it is Better than Average, Average, or Worse than Average. I am going for reliability now and comfort. I don't want anything small, as I have had small in my Honda Del Sol and my 325i is pretty small too. Several of the Nissans are also rated highly, so I think I am going to go with something in these categories. Not that it narrows it down that much. But originally I was looking at a Land Rover and Consumer Reports nixed that one, had terrible ratings in just about all of their vehicles.

What does it say about Mazda Tributes? I never read the CR..

I'd say that about Land Rovers but not about jeeps... I had a Land Rover and it was very top heavy.. but I've also had Jeeps before... I don't think they are top heavy, not did it hydroplain.. nor jerky... weird!!

Jeep Libertys are cute

cherokees are not good on gas either. The ultimate dog vehicles are mini vans imo.

sarah fair-its called death wobble-or something like that-it means it needs an alignment. She needs to fix it-not safe to drive like that.

I've had three and loved every one of them. The last one did have that but it got fixed fairly easy.

I really do like the nissans.

Our mini van was much worse on gas than any of our jeeps-by a lot:yikes:

My friends dad does have an 80 soemthing mini van for sale-it sounds like a helicopter coming down the road

You could do what me and my cousin do and jsut have a "dog car". Hers is a 98 contour. there is straw in the back seats and its the funniest thing to see all the dogs run and pile into it. Get yourself a nice car and then get a little more of a beater for the dogs.The car I'm loking at is leather so I'm going to keep my zx2 for the dogs. When I get the extra cash I'm going to get another cherokee though. I need four whell drive on something.

sarah you can prolly go to consumer reports. com ive done that before to look at my truck but they didnt have it because it was to old :yikes:

What about a Ford Escape? I think I'm getting one of those next.

It may be worth your while to subscribe to the Consumer Reports online service. I think it's consumerreports.org. I think the annual subscription fee is $25. You can get a lot of useful information on new and used cars. They have reliability info too.

It didn't rate it very high Sarah, sorry But that doesn't mean you won't have a great run with yours!

*** addition to post ****
Oh wait, what year is yours? Has it been made only for one year? It is just an Average rating, not above, not below. It does say below average on Satisfaction, and Average rating on Reliability.

I did not like the Escape at all. we test drove those 2006 models and it was really the one I liked the least, and it was loaded. Seemed lacking in power, and the inside looked nice, but everything felt like cheap plastic, cheaper than the saturn I use to dink around in.

The Honda was a much better ride, more comfort, seemed to have more room, although I don't remember the actual numbers anymore. Seemed to be built better as well, you can tell when you test drive, things just feel different.

Good to know... I was going to get one in a couple of weeks....... hmmmmm

Now I don't know what to get.. lol

2006 jeep cherokee 15/20 mpg average

2006 chrysler TC 19/26 mpg

we actually get about 29-31 on the highway about about 20 in town, plus there is a ton more room for dogs, crates, training stuff and people.

everyone likes something different, don't let me stop you

Take them out for test rides, my friend has one, a 2004 I think, and he loves it, just wasn't for me.