Suv's

[princessmom29]

I'm sure to some degree that is true, but I know for a fact that the auto manufacturers here in Alabama use a lot of local parts suppliers. There are at least 40 secondary auto parts and supplies factories here in Alabama and they supply to our local auto factories.

Those plants along with the Nissan plant in Canton, Miss. Employ a LOT of americans, including my BF's husband. I don't think it is wrong to support cars that create american jobs.

 

[mamaLori05]

We have a 2004 CRV and LOVE it!! NEVER had any problems with it. It's only been in the shop for "check up's" and has never needed anything major done with it. We are are a family of 4, ds is in a Britax Marathon (which is huge) and dd is in a Britax Parkway booster. I can easily fit in between them. I have also fit 2 boosters and the Britax in the back seat. That is a little more cramped, but definately doable. Without carseats, we can comfortable fit 3 adults in the back seat. We also plan on having a 3rd, and don't plan on buying a new car anytime soon. My best advice, take your car seats into the show room and try them out. I think you'll be pleasently surprised.

 

[Order66]

I have a 2009 Kia Sportage. Similar in body style to the Sante Fe. Kia is owned by Hyndai. I love my Sportage, it's comfortable, better on fuel than my last vehicle and handles great in the snow. But as others have said....it, along with the other 3 you mentioned are all compact SUV's. We are a family of 4 (staying a family of 4) and it's roomy enough for us...with a lot of cargo space. I've can fit 3 10 year olds in the backseat when my kids have a friend along....but they are right on top of each other.

If you are thinking of enlarging your family to 5...you probably want to look at the midsized SUV's instead. I liked the 2009 Sorento also, which has 3rd row seating....but it was more than I needed in size and price! But was still much less than the other midsize SUV's by other makers.

I have a few friends with Pilots. They like them, except for the fuel economy. Not so good.

regards

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

Just love our Land Rover!

 

[DeniseinNS]

I have a 2009 Kia Sportage. Similar in body style to the Sante Fe. Kia is owned by Hyndai. I love my Sportage, it's comfortable, better on fuel than my last vehicle and handles great in the snow. But as others have said....it, along with the other 3 you mentioned are all compact SUV's. We are a family of 4 (staying a family of 4) and it's roomy enough for us...with a lot of cargo space. I've can fit 3 10 year olds in the backseat when my kids have a friend along....but they are right on top of each other.

If you are thinking of enlarging your family to 5...you probably want to look at the midsized SUV's instead. I liked the 2009 Sorento also, which has 3rd row seating....but it was more than I needed in size and price! But was still much less than the other midsize SUV's by other makers.

I have a few friends with Pilots. They like them, except for the fuel economy. Not so good.

regards

I really like the Kia's, but I'v gotten alot of bad feedback on the customer service of the Kia dealer in my area which has steered us away. I will have to see how far the other Kia dealers are from here.

 

[danielle.st]

We were strongly considering getting a Toyota Rav4 with the optional 3rd row seating for our next vehicle (just waiting for our 12 year old Saturn compact car to die). My dh is scared off by the recent recall stuff and now refuses to consider it.
I think we might end up with a Kia Sorrento (again with the optional 3rd row seating). I tried to get him to consider the Kia Rondo or the Mazda5 which also seat 6 or so people and are a bit cheaper, but he disliked the styles.
We only have 2 kids, but I want a vehicle that we could car pool with their friends with a bit.

 

[natenapril]

Have you looked at Envoys? They're big and nice. Have 3 rows and decent gas mileage. They are really nice. Some friends of ours have one and we take it all the time. It holds all 4 adults and all 4 kids.

I just got a used Blazer and I'm in love.

The Toyotas and Hondas are small on the inside. Plus, you couldn't pay me to buy a Toyota after all of their recent recalls. They have MAJOR electrical problems and won't fess up. Same with Honda. They may not cost as much now, but they can in the long run with repairs or medical bills.

If you really want one of those, I'd wait until the whole recall mess is under control and re-evaluate the vehicles. There are rumors that it could take up to a year to fix the messed up cars. Can you wait that long with your family if you purchase one and you have problems with it?

P.S. - Flame suit on.

The recall is "under control" My car was fixed a week ago. Toyota stepped up and did the right thing inlike other car manufactures with recalled vehicles/parts

Those Toyota, Honda and Hyundais are all built right here in Alabama, U.S.A. The Hyundai plant is about 20 miles from my house.

YES!!! Funny how quick people don't point out that there are many Americans who work for Toyota here on American soil who also need there jobs.

We got a Toyota Sequioa and LOVE it. It was our compromise since DH wanted a truck and I wanted a van. He wanted the towing capacity and the larger SUVs have that. I wanted the seating capacity.

Dawn

We had a Sequoia with 3 kids and it was great! Lots of room!!

 

[Goofy_Dad_24]

Save yourself thousands and buy a 2008 model with 15-20k miles on it as opposed to a 2010. Sorry i couldn't keep the accountant in me from making a comment.

 

[princessmom29]

Save yourself thousands and buy a 2008 model with 15-20k miles on it as opposed to a 2010. Sorry i couldn't keep the accountant in me from making a comment.

Around here, on the rare occasion that you find a vehicle with that kind of milage on it, it is a 2009, and only priced mabye a couple thousand less than new. Believe me I have been looking. The finance deals that are being offered by dealers quite often offset any savings to be had there.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

The recall is "under control" My car was fixed a week ago. Toyota stepped up and did the right thing inlike other car manufactures with recalled vehicles/parts

Even if I didn't believe in the American car companies, I still wouldn't look at Toyotas right now - they just aren't safe and it's going to be awhile before they truly get their electrical issues under control.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100224/ap_on_bi_ge/toyota_recall

I couldn't recommend a vehicle from a troubled company. I'd say to go with Kia or Honda before them. We just bought a 2003 Blazer and it's great. It's compact, can hold 3 car seats in the back seat and has great storage space. I grew up in Chryslers, and I'll have to say I HATED my first Chevy (2009 Impala) but my Blazer is great.

 

[matt and beth]

I hate hearing baseless facts being thrown around so here's the numbers:

Honda cars, dealers, bikes, and small engines employ 120,000 us
Toyota employs 36,632 us
Hyundai-Kia empoyees 2,803 us and only 75,000 worldwide
Nissan employees 8,000 us

GM Ford and Chrysler combined employee 240,000 in Manufacturing and over 4.5 million indirectly through suppliers. They pay pension and health benefits to 775,000 retirees and their survivors. Have 13,600 dealers that have a combined payroll of $36 billion.

The imports tend to build factories in the south that historically have weak labor unions. They are lower paying than their counter parts in the north due to the lower paying blue collar jobs that assembly pays. This is in contrast to the higher paying engineer and management positions. It is all known that retirements are nonexistent with the foreign companies since they use 401k.

Your support and American pride is needed in this time of economic decline in order to support your fellow Americans.

 

[princessmom29]

Even if I didn't believe in the American car companies, I still wouldn't look at Toyotas right now - they just aren't safe and it's going to be awhile before they truly get their electrical issues under control.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100224/ap_on_bi_ge/toyota_recall

I couldn't recommend a vehicle from a troubled company. I'd say to go with Kia or Honda before them. We just bought a 2003 Blazer and it's great. It's compact, can hold 3 car seats in the back seat and has great storage space. I grew up in Chryslers, and I'll have to say I HATED my first Chevy (2009 Impala) but my Blazer is great.

We have owned 8 toyotas as a family over the last 20 years and never had any problems with any of them. The part causing the accelerator problem was a third party manufacturing issue. They are no longer using the supplier responsible. It was NOT electrical in nature. They are talking about a speed surge not a power surge in the article. I still hold that Toyota makes a quality product that is safe. We been anywhere near as happy with any of the domestic vehicles we have owned. On avererage we get about 100,000 miles more out of a Toyota than a ford or Chevy. I will likely buy a "foreign made" car (toyota, huyndai, or Honda most of which are made here) simply because in my experience they are more reliable than Ford and Chevy.Sorry, but that has been my experience, as well as my parents and grandparents.

 

[princessmom29]

I hate hearing baseless facts being thrown around so here's the numbers:

Honda cars, dealers, bikes, and small engines employ 120,000 us
Toyota employs 36,632 us
Hyundai-Kia empoyees 2,803 us and only 75,000 worldwide
Nissan employees 8,000 us

GM Ford and Chrysler combined employee 240,000 in Manufacturing and over 4.5 million indirectly through suppliers. They pay pension and health benefits to 775,000 retirees and their survivors. Have 13,600 dealers that have a combined payroll of $36 billion.

The imports tend to build factories in the south that historically have weak labor unions. They are lower paying than their counter parts in the north due to the lower paying blue collar jobs that assembly pays. This is in contrast to the higher paying engineer and management positions. It is all known that retirements are nonexistent with the foreign companies since they use 401k.

Your support and American pride is needed in this time of economic decline in order to support your fellow Americans.

Wages at the southern plants are more than competitive in this cost of living. They are some of the most sought after jobs in the area. No one has a pension plan here unless you are a government employee, and frankly I don't think it should be an expected benefit. Inflated wages due to union influence is a part of what caused the US auto industry to need to be bailed out in the first place. An assembly line job should NOT be worth $50-75 an hour. You cannot be competitve in today's market place and pay that kind of inflated wage. The foreign owned plants have built in areas where they could pay a fair wage and still be competitive. I don't see a problem with that. There is obviously a problem with the way US auto makers are operating when they cannot make a profit. I don't think we as Americans should have to pay inflated prices for an inferior product to support someone on an assembly line making $50 an hour right out of high school. I am all for buying American, but not when it helps support a vastly broken system. I realize that this in not what anyone working on that line making $50-75 an hour wants to hear, but wages are going to have to come down in order for us automakers to be competitive.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

The braking and accelerating issue is electrical, third party or not and it's worldwide. Regardless of personal opinion of the car companies, I still wouldn't recommend them for a couple of years until they can get everything fixed. Why take the risk?

If I were in OPs position, I'd look at Honda, GM, Ford whatever before I looked at Toyota. Just wouldn't be worth it to me.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I realize that this in not what anyone working on that line making $50-75 an hour wants to hear, but wages are going to have to come down in order for us automakers to be competitive.

I hate to bust your bubble but most of the people working on the line have taken paycuts and most barely make $14/hr. They currently trying to get them to work for $9-12/hr. People working at McDonalds make that much! Our household had to take a 40% paycut just to keep a job. There are NO jobs on the line that make that much. You are thinking about skilled trades and most of those guys make $25-35/hr because it's a skilled position. You'd hard pressed to find anyone in production that makes the wages you think they do. That may have been the way in the past (and those numbers would have only come on holidays and Sunday), but your statement couldn't be further from the truth.

My husband's job is being threatened. He makes $14/hr. They've been told that if they don't take the paycut, they're shutting down the factory. Line jobs are dangerous and warrant more pay. The average life span of a lot of those people working in situations that most people wouldn't do is about 10 years shorter than the general public due to the chemicals and dust and other things that go into making car parts.

 

[Order66]

I really like the Kia's, but I'v gotten alot of bad feedback on the customer service of the Kia dealer in my area which has steered us away. I will have to see how far the other Kia dealers are from here.

If you prefer Hyundai, then check out the Tucson. It was exactly the same model as the Sportage until 2009 ....but it's gotten a better upgrade for 2010 while the Sportage for 2010 is the same, but is getting a make over for it's 2011 model. The Tucson is getting a decent rating for compact SUV's including best in it's class fuel economy with only a slightly higher price than last year. Still one of the least expensive models.

Both companies have the 10/100000 warranties. Better than the US makers offer.

And just and FYI for everyone down on NOT buying US made. I tried....really I did....my father worked for Ford, my uncle worked for Ford, my cousins worked for Ford. I got grief from my family for buying GM. LOL

Honestly....they really didn't want to deal at ALL or even seem like they cared if I spent my money with them or not. My father had the same problem a few months ago. He went to every dealer within 20 miles of his home. They don't CARE to sell you a car around here.

He bought a Kia Forte.

regards

 

[princessmom29]

I hate to bust your bubble but most of the people working on the line have taken paycuts and most barely make $14/hr. They currently trying to get them to work for $9-12/hr. People working at McDonalds make that much! Our household had to take a 40% paycut just to keep a job. There are NO jobs on the line that make that much. You are thinking about skilled trades and most of those guys make $25-35/hr because it's a skilled position. You'd hard pressed to find anyone in production that makes the wages you think they do. That may have been the way in the past (and those numbers would have only come on holidays and Sunday), but your statement couldn't be further from the truth.

My husband's job is being threatened. He makes $14/hr. They've been told that if they don't take the paycut, they're shutting down the factory. Line jobs are dangerous and warrant more pay. The average life span of a lot of those people working in situations that most people wouldn't do is about 10 years shorter than the general public due to the chemicals and dust and other things that go into making car parts.

well if that is true then wages in the southern foreign held plants are twice what the american plants are paying. My BFF's husband has only been on the line 3 years and makes about $24/ hr regular time,which is average for line workers so I guess the "low wage south" idea is bunk. Makes me wonder what else American car makers are doing so wrong?? How can they have half the labor costs of foregin held plants and still be in the hole so badly? The numbers I used came from an article I read just after GM took the bail out that said that the average salary of a line worker in a union plant was $50 a hour at 5 years experience. It is hard to believe the unions allowed that much of a pay cut.

 

[princessmom29]

The braking and accelerating issue is electrical, third party or not and it's worldwide. Regardless of personal opinion of the car companies, I still wouldn't recommend them for a couple of years until they can get everything fixed. Why take the risk?

If I were in OPs position, I'd look at Honda, GM, Ford whatever before I looked at Toyota. Just wouldn't be worth it to me.

not from what I am reading, and what the fix is. They are 2 seperate issues. The braking issue is an electrical one, but the accelerator is a physical problem. The accelerator is physically getting stuck down. The fix is a metal shim attached to the accelerator to keep it from getting down far enough to stick. This is how they have fixed both of my parent's vehicles. The electircal braking isuue is much less widespread, and confined to components in a few models only. It won't take a couple years to fix it, more like a couple of months max Because they are stepping up and calling for a wholesale recall rather than trying to keep it "under the table" like some companies have done in the past. I personally wouldn't hesitate to buy a Toyota because thewy have been quality vehicles for so long, and when something does happen to go wrong, llike now, they are up front about it and work quickly to correct it.

 

[matt and beth]

According to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research, which tracks these things, the typical hourly wage for union employees at the Big Three is about $28 an hour. Wages at the nonunion transplant companies range from $14.60 to $28 an hour, she said. Wages vary even among different plants of the same companies, depending on regional wage standards. For example, Toyota pays $27 to $30 an hour at its plant in Kentucky, but just $20 an hour at a Mississippi plant.


"You can't just say that a transplant wage is this and that the Detroit Big Three is that," Dziczek said.
Let's factor in benefits.


According to Dziczek, in addition to making about $28 an hour, Big Three autoworkers gets benefits worth about $23. Add in overtime, vacation pay shift bonuses, health insurance, pension payments and other compensation, and it comes to about $62 an hour in labor cost per active employee. The cost for wages and benefits at transplant companies is about $40 to $55 an hour.

Traditionally Big Three retirees have enjoyed comfortable retirements.

The retirement plan for transplants = Sayonara!

 

[princessmom29]

According to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research, which tracks these things, the typical hourly wage for union employees at the Big Three is about $28 an hour. Wages at the nonunion transplant companies range from $14.60 to $28 an hour, she said. Wages vary even among different plants of the same companies, depending on regional wage standards. For example, Toyota pays $27 to $30 an hour at its plant in Kentucky, but just $20 an hour at a Mississippi plant.


"You can't just say that a transplant wage is this and that the Detroit Big Three is that," Dziczek said.
Let's factor in benefits.


According to Dziczek, in addition to making about $28 an hour, Big Three autoworkers gets benefits worth about $23. Add in overtime, vacation pay shift bonuses, health insurance, pension payments and other compensation, and it comes to about $62 an hour in labor cost per active employee. The cost for wages and benefits at transplant companies is about $40 to $55 an hour.

Traditionally Big Three retirees have enjoyed comfortable retirements.

The retirement plan for transplants = Sayonara!

I would carefully consider the source of your data, and who is supporting it.
you also cannot quote hourly wages without factoring in cost of living, which is on average about 20% more in Kentucky than Mississippi, and I would imagine higher than that in Detroit. I think that the southern auto plants are payingf a fair wage when you take into consideration the cost of living in the areas where they have built palnts. Again, I don't think a pension is an expected right. We are responsible for our own retirment, not our employers. I would never expect an employer to support me for the rest of my life after I stop working for them! That pension system along with larger wage an benefit payouts are largely responsible for american auto makers failing to be profitable. If they wern't paying out pensions to people for life who start working at 18 and retire at 45, mabye they could turn a profit, stay afloat, and continue to employ Americans. Cost per hour of labor needs to come down in order for them to be competitive!