I drive a 2018 GTI and need to get something bigger/newer now that we have two kids and a dog. Wife does have a Subaru Forester so not necessary to have something huge but having something that can easily fit the car seats and some stuff in the trunk would be nice. I’ve been researching options and feel like I’m just going in circles with things and can’t even decide if I’m going to look at full electric, hybrid, or just an ICE. Any advice? Good places to research that I might not have seen?
We love our Sienna but we have 3 so a van is basically necessary. Our friends with 2 kids love their Pathfinder and Highlander (have both) with the hybrid engines. Gets like 33-36MPG and you’ve got 30 years of history with the Toyota hybrid engines that you don’t with a lot of these plug in hybrids. We also have friends with the VW and they love it. Probably just need to drive a bunch of stuff and take your time.
Do you want to stay in a car? If so, I'm gonna go the wagon route here and tell you to get a Mercedes E-class wagon or a Buick TourX (hard to find). Both are solid cars and not cheap, but don't feel that way either. Both MUCH bigger than the GTI, especially the Buick (which is really an Opel). Both are pretty tunable, too, if you're into that. Obviously maintenance is a little more on the Merc, but they aren't unreliable (esp compared to VAG stuff). That gen GTI has pretty good build quality, so vans may seem a step down. You could go SUV, too, but...blah.
A sedan for the car seats, and a car that does a nice job of balancing value and fun. The Accord is damn good if this is the price range you're looking at. https://www.caranddriver.com/honda/accord Mazda SUVs are really good across all sizes and don't have the shitty driving feel of Rav4/Escape/Sportage types. I don't know electric cars at all.
The A6 Allroad is probably the exact car I should be looking at but they cost a fortune. Weirdly almost bought the Buick when I got the GTI and my neighbor at the time ended up getting one.
I bought a 2023 Audi A4 from Carvana last week and today some old lady merged into my lane without looking and scraped the paint off of my door and left a big dent as well.
The downside of the mazda suv’s is if you’re 6’+ a carseat in the back you can’t have it directly behind you. Always had to drive/have it on passenger side when I drove. With one kid not a problem, when we found out about the second one, upgraded to a van and haven’t looked back.
I understand my recommendations aren't car seat optimal, but I figured someone with a GTI may like the performance driving experience enough that they aren't interested in a minivan or bigger SUV, and the Forester may be the first choice when they're both driving kids around. His post didn't have a lot of info, so I based a lot on the fun to drive GTI and what a GTI driver could stomach moving to.
I weirdly had a CX-90 as a rental about three weeks ago and put about 700 miles on it over a weekend. Great car (and I’ve owned 2 Mazda 3s before and have always liked the brand) but probably a bit bigger than I want. It was a much more pleasant driving experience than the Wagonneer I had to drive a few months back.
I mean the closest equivalent upgrade would be an RS6 or something but realistically my budget is probably around $60,000.
Just saw this morning that the Scout is coming back but not by International I assume. An old restored one has always been my dream but no way was I dropping $340k at Velocity for one. https://www.scoutmotors.com/
Volkswagen bought the name and is bringing scout back. Car looks great. I put down a $100 deposit on one but still 2/3 years out.
Seems like we should expect the prices for Asian and Euro imports and their parts to increase with Captain Tariff at the helm right?
I’ve had my R1S for about a year so timing should line up well. I had that reservation for almost 3 years before I got the SUV and it was a great decision so far so will try it again. Something else could come out in the meantime to change my mind of course.
Buy vs Lease - I've never leased a car but wondering if I should. Situation - I work from home and my wife sometimes works from home as well. . Our daily driver ('21 Audi Q5) gets 95% of our family miles. Due to kids school/practices, we do need a second car. We currently have a Ford Escape that needs to be replaced. It gets driven less than 10 miles a week. Probably started maybe every other day but sometimes easily can go several days without being driven. That said, I still need a second car. I know a big thing with leasing is the miles cap so based on the above, thats far from a concern. I also live in the Chicago suburbs and this car would not get a spot in our garage so has to deal with the upper midwest winter weather. So if you are in my situation and don't want to spend a lot of money (budget ~$20k if buying) would you buy a few year old car (suggestions?) or lease something a little nicer based on the above backstory? TIA.
If it's going to a commuter car to schlep kids around in, Id just buy a cheaper car that you dont really care about. Not have to worry about lease details ect
As mentioned, not commuter car. Drives less than 10 miles a week on average. The farthest I've driven it in the last 6 months is a golf course 20 miles away. Escape needs to be replaced because its a 2014 and it keeps having alternator and other battery charging issues where I want to stop putting money into a car that isn't worth anything. It has a good 10 year run but I'm at the point where the cost to fix is more than the cost of the car.
Either way - if it's a car that is going to be subjected to weather/kids ect, Id think cheaper used car that you dont care about if it gets dinged by hail or something is probably a better route than a lease. Unless you can find a super cheap lease ect
Id go talk to one of those lease places and see where it's at monthly payment wise With interest rates on used cars, unless it's a cheap enough one to pay cash, the lease is probably a good option right now
If you're open to electric or plug-in hybrids, and you should be with those driving habits, you can get good values on leases right now relative to buying used, at least in my opinion. It looks like IL has its own EV credit as well, though I don't know the details. Lease programs with EVs are all over the place so it takes some research to narrow down the good values. Leasehackr.com is a fantastic resource that has an idiot-poof calculator ($10 "donation" required) that uses actual manufacturer lease programs (incentives, money factor, residual value) for all makes/models/trims specific to your zip code, and the site also has forums with brokers (not many in Chicago iirc) that can get you great deals or at worst be used as a low-price competitor when shopping locally. I knew more about the lease programs than the salesman did when I was shopping.
Paying to maintain the Escape that is worth nothing may be significantly cheaper than paying to buy a car that will immediately depreciate or paying to lease a car that you will end up not owning Sounds like you're sick of maintaining and want something new, which I understand, but that's pretty drastic and expensive for 10 mi/week
Finally narrowed it down to a new Subaru Outback XT, used 540i or a used A6 Allroad. I wish more companies made wagons
Sounds like a V90 might be more his speed, although the Polestar is a fun can. Tiny trunk for a wagon, though.
Was going to drive one but they took a deposit as I was on my way down to the dealership. Did get a look at it and just not appreciably bigger than my GTI in the backseat (trunk obviously has more storage tho). 0 incentives on it beyond the $7,500 EV lease credit and frankly, the Volvo dealer was an asshole. Combined with the limited availability and it just didn’t seem worth it (though obviously a very cool car). Also limited because there’s no way I’m buying the old T6 engine with the supercharger/turbo combo…appears to have a ton of reliability issues.
I probably should drive one but I’m not sure the price difference btw the Outback XT and the Volvo is deserved at nearly $25,000. A more luxurious and refined car to be sure but I have a few friends that have the current generation B6 (on v60 and XC60s) and it’s both pretty pokey and appears to have not insignificant reliability issues.
If you’re going to own the car 1 single day outside of warranty, then don’t get the Volvo or the Audi. If Subaru would get rid of that stupid center screen stack and add more physical buttons, it would be a no brainer for me.
Yeah, that’s the plan (CPO w/ the Audi or lease on the Volvo). I actually thought the UI on the Subaru would bother me more than it did. Honestly the little fake HUD they have for lane keep assist is way more obnoxious than setting the heated seats through a screen.
Don't know where else to ask this question so I'll ask it here Some idiot hit me on the freeway yesterday. We were in stop and go traffic, and he literally just rammed into my bumper - 95% sure he was texting or distracted and just assumed we were moving, and broke way too late. Just stupid, but obviously his fault. Pretty sure my bumper is totaled along with the camera and sensors in the back, but my trunk door still works - still probably a pretty hefty bill Its only the second accident I've been in (both not my fault) in two decades of driving, and first in a lease car. Question is - do you have to notify the dealership you leased from when you get in an accident? Assume it is yes before a collision shop repairs the car, but a couple people told me don't say anything
It’s almost assuredly in the Lease Contract that you’re obligated to notify the dealership/leasing finance company; BUT If it’s not explicitly stated and your insurance company doesn’t notify the dealer or LFC, I see no value in offering up that information to anyone else.
Call me so that I can get you maximum recovery for your devastating injuries unless the guy doesn’t have insurance in which case get lost
I mentioned I had a bit of a headache and sore neck the day of the accident. Probably from just the stress of it all. State Farm (his insurance who accepted liability) offered me $2,500 to settle but I said no. Haven't done anything from there.
If you haven’t gotten any medical treatment and feel fine, I’d just demand 10k and see what happens. Maybe you get em to 4 or 5