Help me find a new car.

[AllieMackie]

So, most of you on my friends list in various places now know that last week, this happened:

My poor 14-year-old Honda CR-V has kicked the bucket. The damages seem minor, but that's over $3000 worth of repair work and the car is barely worth $1500. So, it's considered a total loss.

I cried a bit in the tow lot. Seriously. This car was my baby. I learned to drive in this car. I drove my mum to chemo. I was given the car when she passed. It's been with me my entire adult life. I never thought I'd become attached to a car, but here we are.

ANYWAY. Onward.

Once insurance clears and I get whatever money I'll get out of it (likely the Kelley Bluebook value of my car, if I luck out, though it sells for higher so I may try negotiating) I'm putting a down payment on a new-to-me car.

Here's my list of needs:
- 2007 or newer, ideally. I want to stack the odds in my favour of having this car around for awhile.
- Hatchback/Wagon/SUV. I need a lot of storage space. At LEAST room for Finn's crate.
- Pretty good gas mileage, doesn't have to be superb. 22 city MPG or similar would be okay. I commute for 15-20 minutes each way daily and take a few roadtrips a year.
- A decent stock stereo. CD Player, Radio, possibly an aux.

My list of wants:
- A modern centre console. I want to be able to hook up my iPod to the console and Bluetooth my phone for chats during commutes.
- Heated seats.

Basically, a lot of the things I adored about my CR-V. I'd love to get a newer model CR-V if I can, but so far I've found that prices are pretty high for a used 2007-2008 CR-V compared to similar wagons/hatchbacks. That said, they have amazing reviews across the board and I am more than happy with my old one. It never ever died on me, through five accidents and a lot of abuse in my college years (lack of maintenance, etc).

I'm grumpy that thanks to another driver's idiocy, I have to put a down payment on and finance a car that I can't afford right at this moment. Grr. Argh.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[96 GTS]

http://wwwb.autotrader.ca/a/Subaru/Legacy/WATERLOO/Ontario/5_12153223_ON20070802102009231/

How about something like this? Decent mileage, good interior room, heated seats. 2007s don't have an iPod hookup, but 2008 and upward do. Subarus are legendarily reliable as well

 

[JessLough]

http://wwwb.autotrader.ca/a/Subaru/Legacy/WATERLOO/Ontario/5_12153223_ON20070802102009231/

How about something like this? Decent mileage, good interior room, heated seats. 2007s don't have an iPod hookup, but 2008 and upward do. Subarus are legendarily reliable as well

Waterloo is about 6 hours away. But it's bluuuuuuue. I want it

 

[Snip]

Allie, don't let the audio limit your choices. For 2-300 you can upgrade to a decent aftermarket stereo that will offer the options you want, often better than many factory radios.

Take a look through Auto Trader online, see what's out there, and make a list of vehicles that you think may fit your wants/needs. Next go and find some of them, sit in them, sit Finn's crate in the trunk and see how it fits. Then when you have your list narrowed down, start searching.....watch Auto Trader, Kijiji, and don't hesitate to travel if needed for a good buy on a vehicle. You may find travelling 2, 3, or 4 hours away may give a much better selection, or a much better price.

 

[Saeleofu]

Here's my list of needs:
- 2007 or newer, ideally. I want to stack the odds in my favour of having this car around for awhile.
- Hatchback/Wagon/SUV. I need a lot of storage space. At LEAST room for Finn's crate.
- Pretty good gas mileage, doesn't have to be superb. 22 city MPG or similar would be okay. I commute for 15-20 minutes each way daily and take a few roadtrips a year.
- A decent stock stereo. CD Player, Radio, possibly an aux.

My list of wants:
- A modern centre console. I want to be able to hook up my iPod to the console and Bluetooth my phone for chats during commutes.
- Heated seats.

My Caliber fits all those, save for the crate thing - depends on how big the crate is. I can fit Gavroche's wire crate in, or could until I put wheels on it. The others I have to fold up to fit in. However, with all the seats down I can easily fit 8-foot lengths of wood or PVC in. The 2007s don't have aux/docking, they just have an ipod/mp3 player HOLDER (WTF, really, WHY did they think of a holder and no freaking DOCK?!), but the 2008s and on have them...possibly some of the later 2007s. The stock stereo is freaking AMAZING. I love love love love the stereo. Mine even has the speakers in the hatch that flip down, I guess for people that have parties or tailgate or something lol. It has a 6 CD changer (stock!) and is ready for Sirius satellite radio (I just don't bother paying the subscription).

Gas mileage is 22mpg on mine right now, and it's winter with mostly city driving. I have had 32+mpg on the highway. Mileage is better in the summer, too, around 24-26mpg city. Now keep in mind, my intake manifold is stuck open (would have to replace the entire intake manifold to fix it, and it's just not worth it) which cuts fuel economy, so one withotu this problem wuold have even better gas mileage. The people on the caliber forum report roughly 30+mpg at 70+mph on a not-broken car.

All things considered, it's been pretty reliable. I got it exactly 4 years ago, and it has not started exactly 3 times. Once when I was playing fetch with the dogs with my keys and the microchip fell out and I didn't realize it, so the security system would not let me start it until I found the chip and put it back in the key (duh lol). The last time was when my alternator went out. That was the most expensive fix, and still only around $300 parts and labor. Aside from that, there have been oil changes every 6-12 months (as per manufacturer recommendations), serpentine belt replaced once (when the alternator was going out it ate up the serpentine belt), the power steering fluid line came undone and all the fluid leaked out (my brother fixed that in about 5 minutes and I paid him $10 plus the cost of the fluid), and a new set of tires last winter at just over 60,000 miles (by far the most expensive thing I've done to my car). My car now has 81,000+ miles on it (I drove the crap out of it tihs past year) and the CV joint is going out. I can get the part for $100 on Amazon, just trying to find someone willing to put it on for a reasonable price. Oh and my headlight is out, I just haven't had a chance to take it to the dealer to get it reset yet (TPIM needs to be reset when a headlight goes). And a tail light bulb or two (does not need to be reset for those).

And it looks awesome.

And roomy. I have put myself and 8 dogs in it before with room to spare. Granted one of the dogs was Tango and he's tiny, but still lol. Here it has 6 dogs in it:

Hatch, the back seats will fold all the way pretty much flat. I had them up to haul dogs because it's a crazy mess if there are 6 dogs running loose in the back of the car lol

Some people don't like them because they have a set of things that are pretty much guaranteed to break at some point, but mine's been great, I love it! I've put almost 60,000 miles on it in 4 years. There are some things I'd change, but nothing major. If you're interested I can give you the link to them caliber forum if you'd like to do some research.

LOVE this commercial
http://youtu.be/M9Z-vy8oUnQ


ETA: Mine's a 2007 and was $10,000 when I got it 4 years ago. So they ought to have gone down since then.

 

[Zoom]

Subaru Impreza 2.0i Premium 5-door (it's their hatch) has everything you're looking for, especially the newer models. And with the CVT option, you get 36mpg; the all-weather package gets you the heated seats. Outbacks with the XT trim levels won't have as good of gas mileage as the Impreza, but they're pretty awesome too.

I haven't looked too hard into the newer Toyota RAV4 models, but they're typically pretty loaded with the L trim package and I've got a soft spot for the RAVs anyway.

Mazda 5's have a lot more room than I would have imagined and are loaded up on the options now too. Mazda as a whole isn't doing the greatest as far as sales go because they don't have the longevity reputation of some of the other brands and that's the "thing" right now, so you can get a better price on them, assuming you can find what you're looking for. They are pretty reliable from what I understand though.

 

[LostAndConfused]

My Fiesta might be big enough to fit a Finn cage in the back, but maybe look at the newer Focus hatch? They're a bit bigger than my Dori.

 

[joce]

Second a Subaru and sorry about your car

 

[AllieMackie]

Thanks for the input so far!

I'm really liking the Subaru Outback and RAV4 options available to me within 50km or so (browsing AutoTrader like a mofo) but I was alo eyeing the Nissan Rogue. I knew very little about this car, and one of the only big drawbacks I'm reading about is poor rear visibility. The prices are really good on them.

All of these are barring visits and test drives, of course. I'm only window shopping until I hear back from my adjuster... who is out until Monday. Thinking of yelling at my insurance company because I need a rental car now.

 

[BostonBanker]

I had originally been planning on a CR-V, but wound up pulling into the Toyota dealership just to see, and went home with a RAV-4 that was less than a year old and had 8k miles on it.

The one and only thing I like less about it than the CR-V is that the CR-V was quieter inside. I don't notice the RAV as being loud exactly; just that the Honda was distinctly quiet.

Otherwise, it has been a good little soldier for me. Great on any roads (I have good winter tires as well), decent mileage (coming from someone whose last two cars were a Silverado and a Tahoe, so take it with a grain of salt), has had zero issues mechanically. I can just barely squeeze Meg's crate in the back set-up if I keep the middle seats up. I tend to put them down if I need the crate in the car. I can easily toss it in the back folded, along with everything else one needs long drives and agility trials. Mine is an '08; has an aux hookup (although a poorly placed one, IMHO) and CD. No heated seats, but it is the not-so-fancy model with cloth seats.

 

[Shai]

I love love love my Subaru Outback. Also have several dog friends with Subaru Foresters who adore them as well.

If I didn't have three (two of them big) dogs I may have gone for the Imprenza. As it is, however, they weren't really an option so I didn't look into them enough to really give an opinion. Several of the smaller SUV/crossover vehicles were on my list as well including the RAV4 and CR-V but the Outback won.

 

[AllieMackie]

Bump. Old habits die hard. Meet Romana.

 

[CharlieDog]

Very nice!

 

[Laurelin]

Awesome! I was going to say GET A CRV! I miss my old CRV so much and my Lexus does not compare. I want another CRV for my next car.

 

[Zoom]

I wondered if you were going to get another one of those. Congratulations!

 

[LostAndConfused]

Congrats on the new car. My dad loves his CR-V. It's a great car

 

[AllieMackie]

I guess I was rather predictable. Actually I had a close eye on the RAV4 I test drove as well, but I liked this one better and the price was insanely good.

 

[Bahamutt99]

Congrats! I know its a little late for this, but here is my love.

2010 Chevy HHR