Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Car replacement time

[Dennis Liu (bigheaddennis]

The killer part of your query is the two dogs -- at some point, when your daughter gets old enough and you start schlepping lots of kidlet friends around, you're going to need a decent-sized SUV or better yet, station wagon, so the dogs can get the back (mostly) to themselves.

 

My immediate recommendation is a Subaru - Forester or Outback.  Meets all of your requirements thoroughly, except perhaps the "kinda cool" thing.  Unless you're a lesbian from Cambridge and you haven't told us.

 

If it were me, I'd happily suck it up and buy a fully loaded Odyssey, with the rear DVD.  Something smaller?  Mazda 5.  But since I'm sure you'd hate the thought of that, perhaps an Acura MDX - better than the Lexus, IMHO.  Followed closely by the Infiniti FX35/45.  Mazda CX-9 too.

 

The European SUVs/crossovers are more expensive and less reliable, though I'd consider the Cayenne, or better yet, the Turbodiesel Toureg, if you can find one.  Or the Audi Q7 diesel.  All of these, and the BMW X5/X3 and MB ML/GLK can go to 200k miles, but will require $$$$ in maintenance, much more so than the Japanese.  Some like the Volvo XC90, but I try not to think about it.

 

I'd personally prefer a wagon, like the A6 / Allroad, or the E350 or 535xi.

 

Something new?  If you can get over your bowtie-red leaning, consider the 2011 Ford Edge sport.

 

HTH!

 

vty,

 

--Dennis

 

---

From: Lee Lingo [mailto:lee.s.lingo [at] gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 1:02 PM
To: The FerrariList; Dennis Liu
Subject: Car replacement time

Hi folks, long time no post.

Been relocating from Detroit, MI, to Madisonville, Ky.  Most of my time has been taken up orchestrating the whole shebang.

Anyway, the family truckster, our '02 Olds Bravada thats responsible for carting us, our daughter, our two huskys and various gear to and fro is starting to show serious signs of hesitation when doing its chores.  Despite the fact that I'd planned to keep driving it to 250k, it looks like it'll fall 75k short of my goal. 

So I'm looking for a new work horse.  I'm open to suggestions, any and all. 

Requirements are that it gets decent gas mileage, have the ability to haul 3 people and two dogs when necessary, be kinda cool since I'll be driving it mostly, be relatively lite on repair costs and if possible, moderately maintainable by me, be well built enough to last 200k MI, and lastly, $40k or less.  Preferably much less.  I set the bar @ 40 because that's what it would cost to replace the Bravada with a like kind/size new vehicle.  I'm open to new and used.

That being said, I would like to solicit the collective knowledge trust for real info on the Porsche Cayenne turbo & Maserati QP in particular.  And as an aside, the Lotus Elise as well.

Thanks for any and all suggestions and feel free to reply direct if you prefer.

Lee Lingo