Tim and his wife want to move from two older cars to a newer one, but much better. They want something familiar, but not too big. It’s a laugh to drive and with a decent fuel economy. Even with a respectable budget, this is a challenge. Which car do you buy?
(Welcome back to which car you buy? Where we give other people genuine recommendations about buying cars).
Here’s the scenario:
My wife and I have two young children, and we must update our two smaller, old and s bad cars with a new, bigger (but not huge) car. None of us drive for our trips (every time it starts again), however, we need something reliable and fashionable to go shopping in the city, weekend getaways, occasional road trips. We have many desires and we know that we probably can’t tick all the boxes, yet we need to get as close as possible.
We want something big enough for a circle of relatives of 4 with decent shipping space, but we don’t want a massive SUV. Actually, I would like it to be as environmentally friendly as you can imagine (paint for a non-profit organization and run an ecological business, so we would like to walk as much as possible, even if it is still a GLACE). It needs an automatic transmission, and prefers FWD, but reluctantly would settle for an AWD. We live in south Jersey, so we don’t really have much snow. We wish it had an aesthetic appeal. And I’m not looking for a sports car or anything, however, it would be wonderful if it was even a moderate thrill driving. Finally, it would be wonderful if he can also tow a small trailer, but that’s not a challenge (we just sold our app trailer for our secondary business, but we might want it in the future).
I love the VW Sportwagen and the Ford Flex, but my wife is warm and blood free (she hates the Flex and there’s still a lot of waste). Or we like the taste of the Mazda CX-5, but we’re involved in it’s quite small, in terms of load. She likes the look of the Rav-4, and it doesn’t even bother me, yet it sounds boring, and we’d like to spend a little less. None of us are super amateur minivans, despite the convenience.
Within the budget, we can spend up to $30,000
Budget: up to $30,000
Daily driver: yes
Location: South Jersey
Wants: familiar and eco-friendly, fun, elegant
I don’t need: nothing too big or too thirsty.
Greetings from some other South Jersey resident. At first glance, locating a decent circle of crossed relatives for less than $30,000 will be easy, but when loading fun, energy-efficient and modern parts that complicate things. What I sought to do was locate an excellent RX450 F-Sport, which is the best length for a circle of relatives of two children and has the hybrid powertrain, but the maximum of those cars has a significant mileage.
Energized by
You can find some wonderful examples of the RX350 of gasoline in your budget, however, most of those cars will be all-wheel drive and will only give you about 26 mpg on the road. Here’s one for MA if you’re interested in this route.
However, I think you want what I call the “Swiss Car Knife”, which is the Subaru Outback. I sense you probably want something a little more from your neighbors, however, there’s an explanation for why Outback is so popular: it just does a lot of things very well, but it doesn’t work on any of them. The medium-sized car offers plenty of room for two youngsters and appliances and is popular with all the safety technologies you can request. It is also very fun to drive and can reach up to 33 mpg on the road. The new flavor of the frame has an initial MSRP of approximately $27,000 and is even designed to tow up to 2,700 pounds with the fundamental engine. It may not be an exciting car, but it will essentially tick all the boxes you want.
A car that does everything is not only 1) imperfect but 2) boring! An ordinary Subaru Outback is by no means a bad car, but you will soon realize that all the little things that don’t happen are bothering you. For what? Because you may not even realize all the lovely things he does (like using all your belongings and your circle of relatives without drama) because he does them all with such a cheerfully competent air.
You want a car that’s downright bad for some things.
It is the wickedness of some characteristics that underscore the goodness of others. And in your case, I would recommend changing normality, sportsmanship and novelty for pure, cushioned and unobstructed comfort.
You want a Toyota Century.
All right, a used Lexus LS would do very well to be a large car that would probably not decompose and keep it comfortable in any situation. The Century, however, will have an extra touch of strangeness that will constantly remind you that I have a more relaxing car than anything else on the road. The Century is the car you have if you were real in Japan. Are you royalty? You deserve to need it, anytime. You deserve it, man.
You’ll have to move to Christiansburg, Virginia, to buy this 1992 in gray. It’s less than 19,000 miles, comes with a virtual board and is more luxurious than any other 1970s Cadillac. For $21,000, I’d make the trip.
Hi Tim, I hate to be a pill, but um, “automatic, front-wheel drive, efficient fuel, abundant shipping area and pleasure to drive” are inherently incompatible. Especially if a Mazda CX-5 turns out “too small. You’ll have to commit somewhere.”
Looks like what you’re saying is, “What’s the least lame front-wheel drive crossover?” You may get a critical CX-9 almost new for less than $30,000. They are beautiful, probably comfortable to travel by car, and can even succeed in just 30 mpg. This 2020 style has caught my eye, this one in particular is not close to you, but there are also many for sale in New Jersey. A few seconds in the Carmax have discovered some that you can try without problems.
You may also need to take a look at the latest-generation Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. I put something like six hundred miles into a 2017 style and discovered it very comfortable and elegant. However, “pleasure” is limited to orderly ambient lighting and a large sunroof. So will this type of car and this price.
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