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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