Car buying advice? Looking for a deal on a small to mid sized SUV

kube00

kube00

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So my wife is car shopping. She is thinking about getting rid of her 04 Gallant with 60k miles and $350 a month payments for a little/midsized SUV with lower payments.

Features she wants 4WD or AWD, decent gas milage 20+ on the highway, and a fair amount of cargo room. Might be used in the future to tow stuff. Hoping to get one used with less then 50000 miles and under $15,000, hopefully for $12-$13k with car payments of $250 or less

She drove and liked the feel of the Santa Fe (had 63k miles on it for $11k), Chevy Trailer Blazer (45k miles for $14500 only got 18-20 on the highway). She also test drove a Liberty, and that seemed top heavy and the 2007 with 50,000 miles was $15,000. I was going to have her try a Grand Vitara, SXL, a Pilot, a Sportage, or whatever Mazda makes. I'd like to stay away from Explorers or Dodge in general.

Anyone know anything about Jeep Patriots?

So CAGs help me out....BTW we have just started looking and we don't need a new car, but it would be nice.
 
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Any reason why you're staying away from Ford? Their quality has dramatically improved in the last few years.

My mom is in the same spot here, but she's looking at either a Ford Edge, Honda CRV, or Toyota Rav-4.
 
Having owned 3 Jeeps, I wouldn't own another unless I was getting a new one with a full warranty and I would plan to sell shortly before the warranty expires. The Jeeps esp. wranglers can be fun, but their component quality has gone down hill.

Looking at used cars I'd go after the Hondas or Toyotas, but they hold their value like crazy.
 
If you want to spend a little more, you can get a Saab 97x for around $16-17K. It's basically a loaded trailblaxer, but rides much nicer. Gas mileage sucks though....15-20mpg maybe.
 
Not a big fan of older Explorers but I, might give a new one a chance if it got good gas milage, most of the Escape's we've seen are only 2WD so far. I'd buy Ford again (I own an 08 Focus) before I buy a Dodge. The Durango is a piece, terrible gas milage and doesn't hold its value and the Nitro looks like a toaster. I also had the chance to drive a Calibur, I was not impressed.

Anyway back to the SUVs
 
I would suggest, honda/toyota just because their parts are easy to replace/fix compared to domestic. However, you might be able to get a good deal with domestic with the situation right now you could be able to demand more for less
 
Disco Disco Disco. Something about a woman in a Rover. Yea yea gas is no joke, but you can haul a hummer uphill @ a 40 degree angle and not skip a beat. 2004 or 2002, skip 03' year. I just flipped 29K on my pristine 04' Discovery II today and couldn't be happier. 18K-13K easy. Since you are thinking about jeep had to give it a try. Stay away from Blazers for resale value.
 
Stay American check out an 04ish Mercury Mountaineer they get 18 MPG highway in the V6 or V8, but in reality it's a nicer Ford Explorer.
 
My sister drives a Santa Fe and loves it. I have a Rav4 that I just bought in January brand new. It is great but it set me back about $25k.
 
Honda CRVs are pretty cheap. Cheapest way to buy a car though is not make payments, just save up money and buy one off somebody. Check craig's list and as many auto ad websites as you can, you can find some nice deals from smaller dealerships occasionally. Best time to buy a car is right after Xmas and several weeks before tax time.
 
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