Hey GRM brothers and sisters,
We have decided that getting out of the lease on our 17 Toyota 4Runner is something we wat to do. Actually I'd love to keep it as I ove it, but having two car payments isn't something I want to do. I've contacted Vroom about buying out the lease,a nd the made an offer that is within $200 of the buyout of the lease, so I think we might go with that. However we will have to buy something to replace it. My wife can drive my 06 Sienna(was hers for 10 years) until we find something, but I would rather do it sooner than later as I will be either driving my Delica, REPU, or RX-7, all of which either don't have A/C, or have it but it doesn't work. It isn't terribly hot yet here in New England, but I'm fat, and a bit of a diva when it comes to being cool.
In thinking about what we want to get to replace the 4Runner which made sense when we got it, but not so much anymore we have test driven a ton of CUV's. In that research we have figured out we really like the Mazda CX-5 a lot, and especially the newer body style, but the first body style isn't anything to turn your nose up at. We also liked the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, but they are pricey. We could get a used 16-17 V6 Outlander GT in our price range. We liked the few Toyota Rav-4's we drove, but something about the odd dash layout on the passenger side kinda turned me off. I'm a pretty loyal Toyota guy though,so I won't discount the Rav. We also liked the Hyundai Santa Fe, and Santa Fe Sport we drove. We haven't driven the slightly smaller CUV's like the CX-3, Tuscon, etc, but I think she really wants the slightly larger size for long trips. I personally love the look of the CX-3 more than the CX-5, but I always liked smaller cars more.
Her only request is that whatever car we get has heated seats. Not a terrible request. I'd like said vehicle to have Nav, or apple car play so that she can have nav to get around, but truthfully using just her phone would work just fine too, but having it on the dash in a larger format seems better to me. I'm looking to stay around $22k or less financed on whatever we get, and not have crazy mileage. I'd prefer some sort of CPO car with a warranty that is longer than 3 months or whatever you get on most used cars. It seems she's mostly been on the CUV/cute ute path, but I mentioned a leftover 18 Buick Regal TourX that was recommended to me as they have stupid rebates on these being as it's mid 19, and these few cars are still around. She said we should check it out after looking at pictures online. We haven't looked at the Buick yet, and I must admit I wouldn't normally think about a Buick, but it checks a lot of the right boxes, but it's also bigger than the 4Runner on length, and wheelbase which is one of the complaint my wife has with the 4Runner(it's too big she says). We'd also like better fuel economy than the 4Runner which shouldn't be too tough to do.
So smaller than a 4Runner, Fairly newish, not older than maybe 5 years old,preferably awd, heated seats, under $24k CPO type car/ute/cute ute in a color that isn't grey, or silver. Must be reliable!! Oh yeah I hate CVT's, so I prefer a regular auto trans. I prefer Asian cars, but will listen any suggestions. What am I missing?
