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and Nissan has always done their own thing with the Quest. Probably intentional trying to make people think "SUV". still, it seemed plenty big inside to me, unless you really need a school bus or a Sprinter van.
The Sorrento is nice too. Santa fe though seemed a little bigger.
the X3 seems to have grown a bit. Did not seem small to me. Probably about the same as the XC60, and a little more boxy. But, we are down to 1 kid at home (who likes to remind me that she can drive in 9 months), and she is on the petite side, so we really don't need anything gigantic.
good point about the equis (sp?) It often takes the next generation (today's kids?) to move past the older generations bias. Look at the Japanese car revolution in the 70s/80s. It was the younger folks with no alligence to the 50's buying them!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
And it's not obscure the way a Juke is, for instance.
I have not sat in the new X3. I prefer the nose on the X1, but that's not here yet. What does the X3 cost nowadays?
My kids are still young, so flashy paint jobs and vinyl stickers grab their attention. But it's nice to see a nice, low key sedan can do the same thing by coddling their every desire.
Mine's pretty ordinary. The first and second generations were all pretty tame versions of a Caravan imo. The track system for sliding the seats around is sort of cool, but surely isn't particularly innovative.
the quest? Steve is right that the first 2 were not controversial, but they still were zagging a bit while the big boys zigged. Always mama bear sized, did seats their own way, had loaded up models when others didn't, stuff like that.
the 3rd gen was where they totally went into bizarro land. My wife, who knows nothing about cars (and cares even less), when I pointed out they had redesigned the Quest, asked if it still had the stupid center mounted gauges. She actually remembered that from 2004 when we sat in one at the dealer (never even drove it).
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
$11 admission for a full day's access to over a million square feet of displays with multiple test tracks. That's gouging? Considering people pay that for a cruddy 90 minute movie IMO you should rethink your pricing criticism.
Regarding the parking, while I also dislike $20 parking, it's been that way for some time. Chicago city lots run anywhere from $14-23 for 12 hours depending on time & location. Anyway, find any major city with parking adjacent to a major downtown venue and the parking rate will be similar.
My wife & I scored free tickets last year via a Mitsubishi Facebook contest. No such luck this year so we'll go Wednesday. The show is running a food drive for a local food bank so admission is $7 with 3 canned goods.
On the new car note, saw another Juke...still very hard to look at.
street parking at a meter is $1, or free after 6pm..
The Juke is very FX35 looking from the rear (not saying if that is good or bad).. The front view is why they call it the Puke..
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Oh yeah, I also saw a new Odyssey and an S60 - insane $299 lease on the latter right now should sell a few.
Street parking was around in Detroit too, but the lot had an attendant and I figured my changes of not getting a window smashed were better. I cheaped out on on-street parking at the St. Louis Arch back in the 80's and some dufus broke into my Datsun by breaking a window and stole the only arrowhead I ever found. And some other stuff I think.
In Detroit for the auto show, we stayed at the Renaissance Center Marriott, and walked or rode the monorail to the show.. (don't ask me how much parking was at the hotel....
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at least I didn't have to worry about going to the brew pub connected to the center after the show!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
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Good idea - you avoid the high-pressure fuel pump issues they've had with the turbo engines.
BMW replaced the ones that fail, but not proactively. So you could end up stranded before they'll fix it.
You guys are both right - it was the latest Quest that I was thinking of when I said that.
Tickets to the show were free, from a friend who works at Subaru - thanks Patti!
In Baltimore I did even better - wife got $5 tickets from Groupons, then I found free street parking since we went on a Sunday.
Auto Shows are an excellent way to sample a bunch of cars back-to-back with no sales pressure. Beats going to a dealer any day. You can narrow your choices down to a short list, and then maybe test drive your 3 faves.
There was ice and snow everywhere, so a lot of the street parking wasn't available, plus it was a weekday so the city was quite crowded.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
'Twas OK - I got a 2nd day at the Baltimore Auto Show.
I went to Florida and wanted one, and the price was around $600 or so, when a Grand Caravan was well under $400.
You'd have to be crazy to pay that much extra. And that's coming from a Sienna owner...
Not a little more, mind you, MUCH more. I was shocked.
Usually they categorize and you can choose.
I'm not crazy, we got the Dodge Grand Caravan. This was in Orlando, FL, a year or two ago. It was the new Dodge van, the current generation, but the last gen Sienna. Must've been '09 models.
You made the wise choice...it wasn't a BMW vs a Kia or something.
Problem is, which thread?
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef353cb/4439!vuserName=ateixeira
Excerpt:
I'm shopping for a minivan rental for next month, in Tampa. I got quotes for 4 days in an Uplander: $220. Sienna: $630!
SIX HUNDRED THIRTY DOLLARS? What the?!
Date was Sept 2007, and it was actually in Tampa. That was for 4 days, too, not a week.
Over $150/day for a Sienna, lunacy. I can easily rent a 7er/S/A8 or SL/6er/CL for that kind of money in Europe.
We ended up getting an Accord from the airport. We had been debating whether to share a minivan with friends (we went for a wedding), but decided to fly solo.
I was miffed, too, because I forgot to take my Garmin. DOH!
It even had nav included.
I remember not too long ago Hertz charged more for most any Toyota, but now it seems every 2nd rental is a Toyota - funny!
Also what looked like a new style Elantra...no license plate frame, fresh plate, barcode...
My dad had a fleet of cars in Suriname and later in Belize. Before he got there both used Land Rover Discoverys. He switched them to Toyota Land Cruisers. Not the luxo-barges we get here, I mean vinyl seats, steel wheels, knobby tires, diesel engines, etc. Built for UN field office duty.
No kidding - his maintenance costs were cut in half.
Fleet managers aren't dumb. Corolla is 5-star rated by ALG for resale, a Chrysler PT Cruiser gets just one star:
https://www.alg.com/deprratings.aspx
Say you're a fleet manager, and you got bonuses based on profit margins. Would you really buy PT Cruisers? Or that Corolla?
Fleet managers aren't dumb...
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and that's why Hertz loaded up with Toyota's during the SUA fiasco!
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Basically took the front end off the car - bumper, hood, quarter panel, headlight. We limped it back to the dealer and they are dealing with the at-fault guy who his us directly.
Funny thing was it was the only manual SX4 in the area, but my brother deemed it too small anyway. He's shopping for a car to replace his totalled 2004 Legacy (plus he hit a deer last month - that's 3 crashes!).
Next: Sportage FWD manual, base. I wish you could get more options with a manual, because we both liked it even more than we thought we would. Blind spots are bad, but otherwise a solid vehicle all around, at an unbelievable $19.2k!
Next: Optima manual. A little too softly sprung. Light steering, clutch, shifter. Not as fun to drive as the Sportage, unfortunately. Great value but probably better suited for your aunt, with the automatic.
Next: Legacy manual. Nice. He had an 04 totalled a week or two ago, so this is a natural replacement. More substantial and upscale than his, and he liked the clutch and shifter. Back seat is huge now.
Next: Forester manual - NOPE! None in stock. Maybe next week. He really liked it otherwise.
Next: Escape manual - NOPE! Also none in stock. Apparently we did not get the memo - these exist only in catalogs.
So we drove a loaded up V6 model that stickered for a you-must-be-kidding $36 large. Not a hybrid, mind you. Design is very dated. It needs to be redesigned, and then that redesign needs to be redesigned. It's that old.
So Sportage and Legacy are on his short list. He's supposed to try to drive a manual Forester if one comes in tomorrow.
What other new cars come with:
* AWD
* manual trans
* moonroof
???
Very rare.
Yeah, moonroof manual cars have to be uncommon, and exponentially so with AWD.
The guy was just an impatient nut.
He was VERY angry at first. Probably at himself.
We let him cool down. He rolled down his window and stuck out his insurance card and ID. It was very strange. I took cell phone photos of his license plate in case he took off. Also snapped photos of his license, insurance, and registration. Once he calmed down we politely asked if he would follow us to the dealership - 200 feet away!
Very strange experience.
I was happy to hand him off to the dealership manager and get the heck out of there. He got our names as witnesses.
We bailed. I wanted to test a Kizashi but felt guilty, so we just took off.
I bet the salesman was having a great day...no sale, and ruined car.
you already found the SX4. my wife's cousin has one. must be roomy, since he is about 6'2", and pushing 270. at least. But, he loves it.
And I almost got a 2007 Legacy SE wagon a few years back, but that was an AT. Great car though.
what you missed?
- volvo V70 AWD (think it has to be a t5). Not sure which years also came in a manual, and probably rare as hens teeth. Good luck finding one, but at least it will almost certainly have a roof!
Audi A4 of course. again, good luck finding a stick if they were offered.
some variants of the tuscon might fit. A prior generation Rav4? Nissan Rouge?
Thinking hard here, but if the hard part is the roof, find something with AWD and a stick, and have the roof added (the other 2 items you are stuck with!)
Oh yeah, a CRV used to be available that way.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Here's the funny part - it was Fitzgerald Suzuki. Later that day we went to Fitzgerald's other dealrs, since we like the no-haggle policy. We saw a guy who works at the Suzuki dealer at the Dodge/Subaru store! LOL
He must've said to himself, "oh no, not again".