Hi all,
We are looking to upgrade our small hatchback to a SUV as our first baby is just around the corner and we realized hatchback would be a bit small for us (mom,me,wife,sister and our baby).
Could you help us giving suggestion of which car would be best bang for our bucks pls? As per title,our budget is under $38k.
BTW, our current car is a 2011 corolla.
Thank you all.
As by my other posts, pls tolerate my English.
I'm looking at 2014 minimum.
Outlander PHEV Aspire can be had on carsales with VERY low km for around $30-35k vs $56k RRP. Doesn't suit everyone, however if your usage is lots of <50km trips and you can charge it at home overnight on off-peak, you will save around $10k (fuel vs electricity) in the first 100,000km. That makes a top of the line SUV (leather, sunroof, FCM, ACC, auto tailgate etc) for $25k (due to the fuel savings) if you keep it around 5 years. Consumers aren't thinking about EV as fuel prices are low, so real bargains can be had.
I got one of the new rav4s last year(2L GXL metalic paint). I looked at every brand in the price category.
They were advertised RRP of 40k, dealer had sale for 36900, I would have none of that and got it for it for 33750.
Pro
Most space in the back. Cars like ix35 have nothing in the back, only a child could fit. I am 6,1 and fit comfortably in the back of the rav.
Great fuel econ (mine says average is 7.1)
It is a toyota, second toyota and second car with zero problems. I have a peugeot as well and that is the bane of my life, a new problem pops up every year.
Capped price service is 170.
Timing chain
Has this weird plastic that bends on the front so if you bump something it bends in then bounces back.
Since I bought mine, 3 other people have bought them on my street.
Push button start.
Cons
It is more expensive.
No A/C output in the back.
The computer speech recognition could be better.
You have to get the GXL for a usb port
I've got a bit of a soft spot for the new Suzuki Vitara RT-X at the moment.
kia sorrento - great car and has been 1st or the runner up in the best SUV under 60K category for the last 3 years
+1, diesel only though. With petrol you will just be driving from servo to servo ;)
I am a proud owner of a 2013 Kia Sorento too (petrol). I am quite happy with the fuel consumption on this model - it's obviously not as economical as your Corolla, but comparing to other SUVs and considering it's a V6 engine I think most people would be surprised. I do mostly short drives in the city and it does around 13.5L/100KM. Just a comparison - my 2007 Holden Astra (1.8, 4 cylinders) would do around 9L/100km so it's not that bad.
Also, Diesel cost more to maintain (service) and the up-front cost (around 6k more than petrol) would take years to pay-off if you don't drive much like me (less than 10000km year).
At current prices, Diesel is ~ 15% cheaper than Premium fuel so if you fill up around 35x a year (every 10 days) it will take more than 10 years to pay off the up-front cost of diesel, even considering Diesel's fuel efficiency.
13.5 is impressive for round town, which in that case makes petrol viable.
I was basing my comment someone I know of who gets around 30% worse - must be his (or his wife's) lead foot.
Fuel economy is obviously where the Outlander PHEV excels - for the 50km EV part of the trip the electricity cost is the equivalent of approx 1.5L/100km ($1 for 47km using off peak electricity). If your trip is greater than 50km then the rest of the trip will be between 8.3L/100k city and 6.7L/100k highway which is still better than a Corolla or Astra. It will take a while for Australians to embrace PHEV, however worldwide there are 70,000 Outlander PHEV, mostly in Europe. You can take a PHEV for an overnight test drive at a few dealerships in Australia, but warning even the skeptical will be converted! Carsales have seriously cheap near new PHEV right now as Aussie's are still in Diesel era, where Europeans have started moving to PHEV.
You might want to consider a 7-seater. A baby seat can sometimes take up more than 1 seat space, and you won't need to change car again when the 2nd bub is coming (or have a twin!)
New or used ?