We’re on the hunt for a new car.
My Saturn passed it’s 14th birthday last month and Kelly’s car passed it’s 13th birthday. My car, at least, is showing its age. It still runs just fine but little things are begin to fall apart. The lining to the ceiling, for instance. The engine probably needs some serious work, too. But given the age of the car, it’s not worth investing more than just the minimum to keep it running. When I got my Saturn it was because my previous car died suddenly and the whole car-buying process was rushed. This time, we are being more proactive. We’d like to have a new car before anything major happens with my Saturn.
We did some research (you know, Consumer Reports, etc.) and narrowed our choices down to three cars: a Honda CRV, a Toyato RAV4, and Kia Sorento. We have friends or family with the former two. I drove the Sorento once when I rented a car.
Yesterday we went to our local Honda dealership to look at the CRV. We both test drove the car (separately because Zach, of course). We then headed over to the local Toyato dealer. We test drove a RAV4 there. I didn’t expect to like it as much because I’d driven a RAV4 before as well. But as it turned out, I think I liked the RAV4 better than the CRV. I liked the dealership and salesman much better at Toyato than Honda, too.
Today, we headed to our local Kia dealer and we each test drove the Kia Sorento. We both liked it. The car that we drove had a very nice convenience package (including heated driver and passenger seats). I liked our salesman there, too.
We are in no rush to decide, but I think we are both leading toward the Kia Sorento. Not only was the car at least as good as the CRV and RAV4, but neither Honda nor Toyato could come close to the Kia warranty and maintenance: 10 years, 100,000 miles; 5 years, 50,000 miles power train. Add to that, free oil changes for life, free tires for the life of the car, 5 years of roadside assistance included. They also had the best incentives (up to $1500 cash back) and 0% or 1.9% financing option.
We’re hoping to decide in the next week or so and maybe, just maybe, we’ll drive a new car up to New York in 2 weeks, instead of a rental.
Stay tuned for breaking news.
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