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I used to love big cars but I just treat my cars like appliances now. My favorite car of all time was my 1969 Dodge Monaco 2dr Hardtop with a 383 V8. It drove like a dream.
It looked a lot like this one but I had nicer wheels and mine was a real pretty deep brown color.
"This time I'm looking for a car that I'm going to want to keep forever. Haha... or at least it'll hopefully last eight or ten years. "
Your SUV list is short two major players in that market......The Chevy/GMC Suburban. Both are very refined "station wagons" that will last for at least 30 years with care.
So to chose your Suburban know that any year from 1993 to 2012 will get you a super nice ride (in 4x4 even!) while lasting a long time.
I've thought about the Suburban and would like the ride and the utility of it without a doubt, but man, its big. The cost of a fill-up intimidates me too, and parking would be interesting! I have followed the fact that a lot of police departments have Chevy Tahoe's now, including Chicago. Gas mileage is not great, but passable with the Tahoe's. They love the spaciousness, but hate the winter handling with 2WD. Also, they've had a number of them that rolled. A 4x4 Tahoe might be a decent choice... what do you think?
Remember, this isn't going to happen for a year, so I've got plenty of time to change my mind. But after spending some time this weekend checking out cars, and reading all the replies here, here's my list as it stands right now:
Desired price point: $14,000
Years: 2008-2010
Mileage: Probably the 40K-60K range
Probably the right price and right size
Ford Explorer 4x4
Buick Lucerne
Cadillac DTS
Hyundai Azera
Dodge Charger
Ford Crown Vic/Merc Marquis
First Choice — Perfect for me, but probably too expensive by $4K-$5K (or would have to go one year older)
Volvo XC70 Wagon AWD
Pontiac G8
Not bad, but probably a little too small for me to be long-term happy with it
Mazda 6i
Mitsubishi Galant
Subaru anything (AWD)
The wild cards - if I feel like a bad boy the day I go car shopping
Ford Mustang
Dodge Challenger
Dream cars of 2013
Global Ford Ranger 4x4 (if they bring it here... look at it in blue, I love it)
Chevy Caprice (if they allow civilian sales)
2011-2013 Explorer 4x4 (I can't afford the new style yet)
the Dodge Challenger is actually an interesing idea; they are the last of the big coupes -- the closest spiritual successor to your old T-bird. Unfortunately, the only one that will be in your price range anytime soon is the weaksauce V6 model.
I've thought about the Suburban and would like the ride and the utility of it without a doubt, but man, its big. The cost of a fill-up intimidates me too, and parking would be interesting! I have followed the fact that a lot of police departments have Chevy Tahoe's now, including Chicago. Gas mileage is not great, but passable with the Tahoe's. They love the spaciousness, but hate the winter handling with 2WD. Also, they've had a number of them that rolled. A 4x4 Tahoe might be a decent choice... what do you think?
I think a Tahoe would be an excellent choice if you didn't need the extra room of a full sized Suburban.
As far a gas consumption goes.....Smart use of any vehicle will always give you more MPG per month. It's the per month cost that one has to watch.
We make it a practice to.......never start the vehicle unless the trip will pay for itself in use value and/or cost avoidance. NO one hit stops for a loaf of bread etc. People run willy nilly in their vehicles then complain about their crap MPG!
By following our plan ,and with a little help from our bicycle for grocery hops, we buy fuel once and month ,or less, for our Surbuban and 4x4 PU.
We drive what we want never worrying about fuel cost............
Given your price and apparent desire for a large car that has some power, I think your choices really come down to the following:
Dodge Charger/Chrysler 300
Buick Lucerne (this was going to be my suggestion, but someone beat me to it, look for a "Super" model)
Cadillac DTS
Cadillac STS
Anyone of them fits the bill as all have either standard or optional V8's or at least a large V6. The Charger/300 is the easiest suggestion as they are so readily available and the price is low. While they have their issues, they also tend to be much better in the reliability area than other Chrysler products. Just make sure you stick with the larger 3.5L V6 or the 5.7L Hemi V8. While the SRT is a great car, they will be out of your price range.
The Lucerne is a great large car and was very underappreciated in its time. It's decidedly more "old Buick", but the Super package offers V8 power and surprisingly good handling. The car also has a lot of old school GM in it, which isn't a negative when we are talking about reliability and parts availability over the long haul. The Lucerne had a lot of proven bits in it and many overlook that until recently with all their new product offerings, Buick had long been one of the most reliable manufacturers.
The DTS and STS are options because they offer the size and power, but also come with a lot of content and had low resale, so you get a lot of car for your money. The only thing that would steer me away from them is the Northstar issues on some model years, other than that they were pretty reliable cars packed with a lot of goodies. If you go this way, do your homework on the model years in question.
I used to love big cars but I just treat my cars like appliances now.
Yeah, they've become a little bit soul-less.
To me this happened around the millennium mark... 1998-2000.
I remember student teaching, and pulling in the first day to the parking lot, and noticing everyone had a beige-ish, 4-door, small sedan. Camry, Corolla, Saturn, Cavalier... all cars that I just hated, being a car guy, and maybe that was a glimpse of the future. They all kind of looked the same, were boring and were, well, like appliances.
It didn't help when GM started parting everything out of the same bin, or when every manufacturer started making interiors in only beige or gray.
And for quite a few years I didn't like anything I saw at the Auto Show.
My Jetta is blue, but when I see that car in white, I think it looks like a refrigerator or like Eve the automaton robot with artificial intelligence from Wall-E.
I think a Tahoe would be an excellent choice if you didn't need the extra room of a full sized Suburban.
As far a gas consumption goes.....Smart use of any vehicle will always give you more MPG per month. It's the per month cost that one has to watch.
We make it a practice to.......never start the vehicle unless the trip will pay for itself in use value and/or cost avoidance. NO one hit stops for a loaf of bread etc. People run willy nilly in their vehicles then complain about their crap MPG!
By following our plan ,and with a little help from our bicycle for grocery hops, we buy fuel once and month ,or less, for our Surbuban and 4x4 PU.
We drive what we want never worrying about fuel cost............
That's amazing. Good for you! My situation though is a 40 mile daily drive to work, and home is a city where I have to go clear to the other side of town down a 6-lane highway to get to the grocery store.
I do a lot of walking though, I'm near a hundred different restaurants and coffee shops, and little shops near a university village, so on weekends I can usually keep the car parked for at least 24 hours straight. I do like weekend trips though too, and family and friends are two hours away.
If I go with an SUV, I just found another one I like, the 2006-2010 Saturn Outlook.
Came across a forum post on it! Pretty impressed with the reviews and the owner comments, and I like the look.
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A 4x4 Tahoe might be a decent choice... what do you think?
