Looking for advise on a car/SUV for my Niece.

loosenut

loosenut

Club Member
My niece was originally going to drive my brothers Grand Cherokee, but changed her mind and wants something smaller and better on gas. I have exactly 0 experience in any cars that doesn't have either a large frame turbo 6 or a V8.

Whats the take on the small SUV market? Newish Escapes (14-17) 1.5, 1.6 or 2.0 2.5l? Equinox or Terrain 1.5, 2.0l. Jeep Cherokee. 4cy vs v6? I would prefer it to be 4WD or AWD.

She has also mentioned the Fusion, Malibu. Same year (price) ranges.

Any experience would help. I don't want to start a ford vs GM vs dodge debate.

I am buying wholesale at the auction so I don't have much time to inspect the vehicle before I buy it.


Thanks in advance...

Andy
 
loosenut said:
My niece was originally going to drive my brothers Grand Cherokee, but changed her mind and wants something smaller and better on gas. I have exactly 0 experience in any cars that doesn't have either a large frame turbo 6 or a V8.

Whats the take on the small SUV market? Newish Escapes (14-17) 1.5, 1.6 or 2.0 2.5l? Equinox or Terrain 1.5, 2.0l. Jeep Cherokee. 4cy vs v6? I would prefer it to be 4WD or AWD.

She has also mentioned the Fusion, Malibu. Same year (price) ranges.

Any experience would help. I don't want to start a ford vs GM vs dodge debate.

I am buying wholesale at the auction so I don't have much time to inspect the vehicle before I buy it.


Thanks in advance...

Andy
Click to expand...

the newer cherokee is decent along with the compass 4 cylinder decent on gas and room wise.
 
I really liked my 2018 Compass Limited. The lower models are pretty cheap looking/feeling, but the Limited was a damn nice little SUV for the money. They got the current generation remodel spot on IMHO


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ultradriver10000 said:
My elderly neighbor has a 3year old escape with 4K miles she is selling. Probably $21,500
Click to expand...

Thanks. That’s a little more then she wants to spend. We’re looking at cars with a MMR do around 10k. May want to look into selling to Carvana. They’re paying damn near retail right now.


DetroitStyle said:
I really liked my 2018 Compass Limited. The lower models are pretty cheap looking/feeling, but the Limited was a damn nice little SUV for the money. They got the current generation remodel spot on IMHO


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Click to expand...

I’ll have to check it out. My coworker has a stripped down one and it feels cheep inside.
 
Second generation Equinox or Terrain with the 2.4L 4banger and AWD are pretty decent. Cheap to insure and work on, kind of gutless with 180hp and 3800lb, but decent room inside with the sliding rear seat. The 3.6L is a rocket in it and gets about the same real world gas mileage but is a PITA to work on. My wife is on her third one and I don't know what I'm going to do when she wears this one out.

The new ones are comparatively garbage for what they cost. The new Acadia/Blazer/XT5 are built on the same platform as the old second generation Terrain/Equinox (Theta LWB/C1XX), but are way more expensive. (The Terrain and Equinox went to a smaller platform [D2XX] in 2018 so that's why they look tiny like a Buick Envision).
 
Escapes 2011 and down.
Equinox fair well / average.
2010 - 2012 Fusion above average.

And of course, Rav4 & CRV always a good bet.

What is her price range? She'll get twice the car
for almost half the price over a SUV 4x4/AWD.
 
wrath said:
Second generation Equinox or Terrain with the 2.4L 4banger and AWD are pretty decent. Cheap to insure and work on, kind of gutless with 180hp and 3800lb, but decent room inside with the sliding rear seat. The 3.6L is a rocket in it and gets about the same real world gas mileage but is a PITA to work on. My wife is on her third one and I don't know what I'm going to do when she wears this one out.

The new ones are comparatively garbage for what they cost. The new Acadia/Blazer/XT5 are built on the same platform as the old second generation Terrain/Equinox (Theta LWB/C1XX), but are way more expensive. (The Terrain and Equinox went to a smaller platform [D2XX] in 2018 so that's why they look tiny like a Buick Envision).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. My sister had 2 equinox and she liked them. I can’t really use her experience because she leases them for 2 years and puts 8k miles on them. I want to know how they last and how much maintenance they require.
 
I have my daughter in a 08 Hybrid Escape AWD its fantastic in the snow .... gets 25 city mpg
bought it a couple years its been a good car paid 3k for it spent another grand or so on it in maintenance repairs brakes tires ect

I have my son in a 09 Fusion ... 30 ish mpg has been a good car since we bought it 7 years ago normal stuff .. brakes tires...

My wife drives a 17 escape with the turbo 4 and awd gets 21 combined turn off the traction control its a riot in the snow moves out great paid 16k for it in november 2019

my daily is a 2017 Cmax hybrid fwd ... you sit up like a suv ... you dont feel like you are sitting on the ground like my sons Fusion did fine in the snow last winter ... 42 mpg I suppose if I put winter tires on it it will do better bought it for 13k before used cars got stupid this year

In my opinion ... AWD is over kill ... fwd does fine in the snow
 
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So, second generation Equinox.

My wife likes them a lot. We've had a 2013, 2015, and 2017. I know about another dozen owners of them. Basically rode out the sweet spot for depreciation, got rid of them just out of warranty/when they needed tires and the "free maintenance" GM and the dealers used to do ran out. She basically drove them for $300/month.

Her 2017 has 55k on it, we paid a fortune to get the warranty to go out to 100k/6 years. It's the baller edition (Premium AWD) but no sunroof (I don't fit with a sunroof) and the 4 banger. The only thing I'd say they were ever missing was a heated steering wheel option. She drives about 50 miles per day in and out of the shitshow known as Ann Arbor, but the pandemic caused her not to go to work for 17 months. Probably get another 15k out of the tires, but I'm looking for some 5x120 wheels to put snow tires on so she can have good ones for the winter. I think the brakes will last to 90-100k.

The timing system is noisy on all of the 2.4L. There are TSBs on it. Our 2017's timing system sounds like first gear on my 8L90e.

Ride quality starts to suffer at about 30k. My wife never notices so I don't do anything about it. I'm guessing the front shocks aren't big enough to deal with the beastly porkage of an Equinox. They're really heavy vehicles for their size.

Air filters never seem to get dirty.

Cabin air filters will get destroyed by rodents, along with the fuzzy wheel liner insulation. Easy to eyeball if it's had a rodent problem by looking through the door hinges with the door open. It should be filled with material. Rodents love this stuff. Road noise increases once the rodents carry it off.

I change the oil about every 5500 miles in the summer and every 7500 miles in the winter. Basically I wait until it looks dirty.

I actually can't find much to complain about them, other than they're gutless with the 2.4L.

I don't know about rust yet. I do clean the underside regularly in the winter with hot garden hose water in the driveway. I do fill the bottoms of the doors with Corrosion-X twice per year (it's a naval lubricant).


I would consider looking at third generation Ford Escape as well. The post-facelift version seems to have a lot of electronic problems (my in-law extended family have a ton of these because they're Ford people) but I would consider them still good vehicles.
 
loosenut said:
Thanks. That’s a little more then she wants to spend. We’re looking at cars with a MMR do around 10k. May want to look into selling to Carvana. They’re paying damn near retail right now.




I’ll have to check it out. My coworker has a stripped down one and it feels cheep inside.
Click to expand...

The base model and the Limited are light years apart. I was quite impressed with my Limited. But I don’t think you’ll find one at $10k budget without a shitload of miles.

I would generally say, in that case, find the nicest RAV4 you can. I paid $6k for my ‘01. It’s damn near rust free (came from FL) has 140k miles and is a bit of a unicorn (fully loaded, but 5 speed manual). However, 2nd gems are probably a little less modern than a teenager would like these days, 3rd gems are the worst of the RAV4s and 4th-5th gems are likely above budget [emoji2371]


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derbydad276 said:
I have my daughter in a 08 Hybrid Escape AWD its fantastic in the snow .... gets 25 city mpg
bought it a couple years its been a good car paid 3k for it spent another grand or so on it in maintenance repairs brakes tires ect

I have my son in a 09 Fusion ... 30 ish mpg has been a good car since we bought it 7 years ago normal stuff .. brakes tires...

My wife drives a 17 escape with the turbo 4 and awd gets 21 combined turn off the traction control its a riot in the snow moves out great paid 16k for it in november 2019

my daily is a 2017 Cmax hybrid fwd ... you sit up like a suv ... you dont feel like you are sitting on the ground like my sons Fusion did fine in the snow last winter ... 42 mpg I suppose if I put winter tires on it it will do better bought it for 13k before used cars got stupid this year

In my opinion ... AWD is over kill ... fwd does fine in the snow
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. This helps.

wrath said:
So, second generation Equinox.

My wife likes them a lot. We've had a 2013, 2015, and 2017. I know about another dozen owners of them. Basically rode out the sweet spot for depreciation, got rid of them just out of warranty/when they needed tires and the "free maintenance" GM and the dealers used to do ran out. She basically drove them for $300/month.

Her 2017 has 55k on it, we paid a fortune to get the warranty to go out to 100k/6 years. It's the baller edition (Premium AWD) but no sunroof (I don't fit with a sunroof) and the 4 banger. The only thing I'd say they were ever missing was a heated steering wheel option. She drives about 50 miles per day in and out of the shitshow known as Ann Arbor, but the pandemic caused her not to go to work for 17 months. Probably get another 15k out of the tires, but I'm looking for some 5x120 wheels to put snow tires on so she can have good ones for the winter. I think the brakes will last to 90-100k.

The timing system is noisy on all of the 2.4L. There are TSBs on it. Our 2017's timing system sounds like first gear on my 8L90e.

Ride quality starts to suffer at about 30k. My wife never notices so I don't do anything about it. I'm guessing the front shocks aren't big enough to deal with the beastly porkage of an Equinox. They're really heavy vehicles for their size.

Air filters never seem to get dirty.

Cabin air filters will get destroyed by rodents, along with the fuzzy wheel liner insulation. Easy to eyeball if it's had a rodent problem by looking through the door hinges with the door open. It should be filled with material. Rodents love this stuff. Road noise increases once the rodents carry it off.

I change the oil about every 5500 miles in the summer and every 7500 miles in the winter. Basically I wait until it looks dirty.

I actually can't find much to complain about them, other than they're gutless with the 2.4L.

I don't know about rust yet. I do clean the underside regularly in the winter with hot garden hose water in the driveway. I do fill the bottoms of the doors with Corrosion-X twice per year (it's a naval lubricant).


I would consider looking at third generation Ford Escape as well. The post-facelift version seems to have a lot of electronic problems (my in-law extended family have a ton of these because they're Ford people) but I would consider them still good vehicles.
Click to expand...


Thanks for all the info. This helps a lot!

DetroitStyle said:
The base model and the Limited are light years apart. I was quite impressed with my Limited. But I don’t think you’ll find one at $10k budget without a shitload of miles.

I would generally say, in that case, find the nicest RAV4 you can. I paid $6k for my ‘01. It’s damn near rust free (came from FL) has 140k miles and is a bit of a unicorn (fully loaded, but 5 speed manual). However, 2nd gems are probably a little less modern than a teenager would like these days, 3rd gems are the worst of the RAV4s and 4th-5th gems are likely above budget [emoji2371]


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Click to expand...

I'm looking at dealer auctions, so these vehicles retail for 12-15k with a MMR of 10k. I will look into them. Thanks!

Rumblestrip said:
A bit like this? 2005 Escape.
View attachment 87087
Click to expand...


Wow.

Rumblestrip said:
Get a Honda CR-V it will run forever.
Click to expand...

This is also on the list. I prefer to buy American though.
 
loosenut said:
Thanks. That’s a little more then she wants to spend. We’re looking at cars with a MMR do around 10k. May want to look into selling to Carvana. They’re paying damn near retail right now.
Click to expand...

Yeah she is waiting on the title. I think they offered like $21,800 or something. Its a nice car if anyone is looking.

My sister had a CR-V and it lasted forever. My parents have an equinox and its fine at ~85K miles now. It has AWD, I'll have to ask if they'd want to sell it haha.
 
My uncle has a 2018 Compass I drove it for the first time the other day I was suprised and how roomy it was inside. My daughter and my mother in law both have 2007 Honda CR-V's. They are both very reliable.
 
I asked around about CRVs since around here is granola eaterville pretty much all the people that are too poor to live in Ann Arbor live by me and 'mer'can cars are rare.

It seems that they're like a typical Honda. They built it a little too good so then each generation they make it shittier (except the Ridgeline, it's always been cold diarrhea). Most people have had at least three and have all moved to Escapes or Subarus. One person switched to Kiadai. Not a huge sample size, but all my neighbors that have one have said "I liked my old one better".
 
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