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New car opinions

spiffylubes

spiffylubes

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Going to test drive some potential cars for the wife this weekend, right now I'm planning on going to look at a Subaru Forester, Audi Q5, Mercedes GLK and ML, and maybe a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on any of these? Obviously the Forester is the cheapest and incredibly well reviewed, so I have high hopes for it, but we'll have to see. Subarus do tend to rattle quite a bit, in my limited experience.
 
I have a Volvo and often get a Subaru loaner when I have work done and have been really impressed with every model that I've driven.

ETA- It's a Volvo/VW/Subaru dealership
 
It depends what you are looking for and want to spend. Do you have a family? Dogs? What is your price range? These are all over the map in terms of price.
We were between the Forester and GLK a few weeks back. I wasn't impressed with the GLK. It's a fine car, but you're paying for the Mercedes name. Not to mention the back seat was not roomy at all and the head room was lacking. I'm 6'3" and it was a no go for me in the back in terms of comfort. However, the Forester has tons of head room and I could cross my legs in the back seat with my wife in comfortable driving position for her. Subaru isn't fancy, but they are solid. We like it a lot so far. If you want a higher end car, they make the Forester in a Turbo version and also a GPS and lane change thing package too. We got the Limited (leather and back up camera but not GPS and non-turbo).
 
Love my Subaru (outback). BF loves his Subaru (impreza).

...that is all.
 
I have a Q5 and like it. Prior car was an X5. Q5 is gets really good gas mileage and is really quick for an SUV (especially if you get the 3.2, but the 2.0T is better than decent as well). It basically is better in almost every way than my old X5. Its not a huge car so if you have 2.5 kids in the burbs it might not be for you.

If you go Audi this is a great time of year to look the CPO route since the 2014 have just arrived. Most dealers still have 2013 fleet cars that have under 5K and will be 10K cheaper while still having a 100K warranty.
 
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I've driven a lot of different cars and I'm pretty sure I've driven all of the ones you mentioned and overall I really do like Audis the best.
 
spiffylubes said:
Going to test drive some potential cars for the wife this weekend, right now I'm planning on going to look at a Subaru Forester, Audi Q5, Mercedes GLK and ML, and maybe a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on any of these? Obviously the Forester is the cheapest and incredibly well reviewed, so I have high hopes for it, but we'll have to see. Subarus do tend to rattle quite a bit, in my limited experience.
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We just did the test drive experience. I drove several different cars. I think we decided that I drove between 20 and 30 suvs. I did not drive the Audi or Mercedes that you mentioned. I had a former coworker who had the GLK and I just didn't like riding in it.

I did test drive both the Subaru Forester and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. I hated the way the Grand Cherokee handled and I was trading in a Cherokee. The Forester handled well but it came down to I didn't like the format/shape of the cargo space. Cargo was my #1 concern. One of the sales men laughed about how I didn't want to see how easy it was to put a baby seat in the car, instead the first thing I did was make them put all the seats down flat.

At the end of the day, I didn't get any that you mentioned. I ended up going with the Toyota Highlander. I liked the way it handled, it didn't have major blind spots like several other cars, I didn't catch myself going way faster than I thought, and most importantly it had lots of cargo space and the seats went perfectly flat. I'm also short. There were several suvs that I drove that I felt like I couldn't see over the dashboard based on how it was shaped.
 
What about the Acura MDX? It tends to top a lot of review websites. Not the prettiest girl at the party though.
 
spiffylubes said:
What about the Acura MDX? It tends to top a lot of review websites. Not the prettiest girl at the party though.
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I didn't like it because I felt like it had a major blindspot created by the back molding.
 
lbE08 said:
Love my Subaru (outback). BF loves his Subaru (impreza).

...that is all.
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So my question is did you get the Subarus because you moved to Portland or did you move to Portland because you got the Subarus?

I have a 2004 Outback with ~190k. For the first 175k miles or so it had maybe a $1k worth of A/C work done and other than that it was just wear and tear maintenance (including the clutch though). Around that time the head gasket started to go (very common problem with that engine..they've revamped the design since, not sure if they fixed that issue or not) and I finally replaced it a few months ago once the smoke started to get pretty noticeable so that was a $2k repair. All in all, though it has been really rock solid. While the head gasket was being done, I had a 2014 Forester as a loaner and really liked it. Just thought it was a really nice driving car, also much more peppy than I would have expected. But it's in a different kind of class than the Q5, GLK, or Grand Cherokee.

Note that some of Subaru's historic nvh issues are associated with the frameless windows that they've since moved away from (this is more wind noise than rattles, though I don't think I have any rattles..maybe I just can't hear them over the wind noise ;) ).
 
I'm curious where in the world you went that had all these different brands of cars....and wagons... And suv's.
 
WakeGal said:
We just did the test drive experience. I drove several different cars. I think we decided that I drove between 20 and 30 suvs. I did not drive the Audi or Mercedes that you mentioned. I had a former coworker who had the GLK and I just didn't like riding in it.

I did test drive both the Subaru Forester and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. I hated the way the Grand Cherokee handled and I was trading in a Cherokee. The Forester handled well but it came down to I didn't like the format/shape of the cargo space. Cargo was my #1 concern. One of the sales men laughed about how I didn't want to see how easy it was to put a baby seat in the car, instead the first thing I did was make them put all the seats down flat.

At the end of the day, I didn't get any that you mentioned. I ended up going with the Toyota Highlander. I liked the way it handled, it didn't have major blind spots like several other cars, I didn't catch myself going way faster than I thought, and most importantly it had lots of cargo space and the seats went perfectly flat. I'm also short. There were several suvs that I drove that I felt like I couldn't see over the dashboard based on how it was shaped.
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Wow...the Highlander better cargo capability than a Forester? Also, the back seats folded plenty flat for me (to put my bike in). Highlander is a size up from the Forester so you're giving up gas mileage and driving "fun" factor. Every Highlander review I've read nails them for being "numb", "boring" etc. Plus the looks are rather bland. Of course, if $$$ is an issue the Forester is also considerably cheaper.
 
TexasDeac71 said:
Wow...the Highlander better cargo capability than a Forester? Also, the back seats folded plenty flat for me (to put my bike in). Highlander is a size up from the Forester so you're giving up gas mileage and driving "fun" factor. Every Highlander review I've read nails them for being "numb", "boring" etc. Plus the looks are rather bland. Of course, if $$$ is an issue the Forester is also considerably cheaper.
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Yes. I carry a bunch of stuff on a regular basis. In all honesty, I should probably get a truck. 85% of the time both rows of seats are flat. To me it's not numb or bland, instead it's functional and exactly what I needed. The gas mileage is better tha I was getting in the jeep. I love my highlander. I asked numerous other owners what they thought of theirs and they loved theirs as well.
 
Three words for you: Freude am fahren.

Given what you're looking at, do yourself a favor and check out the X3 or X5. That said, I do like the Forester simply because of the power, quality, and options you get for the price. Great value and a Top Gear favorite. But BMW is so sublime and unparalleled you really should check them out.
 
Speaking of Top Gear, I'm pretty sure they called the X3 the worst/most pointless SUV ever?
 
lbE08 said:
Speaking of Top Gear, I'm pretty sure they called the X3 the worst/most pointless SUV ever?
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Yes, same show that also said America was the worst country on the planet to visit. Take their bullshit with a grain of salt- Clarkson's head is so firmly planted up Range Rover's ass, he can't see the abysmal shit they've been churning out for years. And that's when he's not fellating Jag-yew-ar's latest pile of shit. The X3 fits a niche that doesn't really exist in quaint ol' England. Personally, I prefer the room and size of the X5 but if cost is a concern, it can be pricey.
 
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