Seriously anything else is just a glorified minivan, so you might as
well go with Dennis and get the Odyssey... Try and find a good use
for the lipstick holder :). Those trucks, at least, would haul your
Elise to the track and back :), and other toys. Also you are in the
South now, its not Detroit, if you don't drive a pickup people will
be looking for your pinky ring.
As for the Elise... I was in the hunt for one when the Vette found
me... Cool little cars, but the road trip I took this summer, I
would never have attempted in an Elise. Snappy at the limit and
requires contortion and flexibility to get out of one (and perhaps
Crisco), though I am pretty small. Q-porte is pretty, no idea on
reliability, seems unlikely it would go 200k without costing a
fortune. Good luck!
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
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
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