unexpected car shopping for 7 passenger - Help!

[clarkshel]

I personally love the new Ford Explorers. We have rented these a few times on different vacations. They ride and handle great and they get good has mileage for the size of vehicle. I also love their entertainment system. These all have third row seats.

 

[Cobern]

Ok first not all mechanics complain about the type they work on. My DH has worked at Toyota and GMC and independent shops. He was not a fan of any GMC products he said it is just not worth the $$$. He loved toyotas because he said a ton would come in that were 15+ years old and no major problems just routine stuff.

We bought a Dodge Durango about 1.5 years ago. We LOVE it! Even with the large engine (hemi) it gets 20 mpg and seats 7. It looks nice and a base one is not that badly priced.

My husbands recommendation is for Toyota or Lexus (same engine parts) if you can afford it. They are pricey we looked at buying one but for what I wanted it was over $50,000 and that is just a NO.

Overall you need to drive different ones to see what you like. I LOVED my Jeep Wrangler and when I was pregnant with my first child I thought of getting the new 4 door ones with a hard top. I drove it and HATED how it handled. That is just my input. I am only 27 but have already been through 7 cars so I am super picky about what I will drive

 

[Lisa in WV]

I love my Ford Expedition and wouldn't hesitate to buy another one.

 

[iteach7th]

Thanks everyone - I heard from the adjuster last night and it was totaled. They are giving me a very reasonable price for a 2006 van with 114,000 miles on it. I was hoping to keep that van and possibly top 200,000 before replacing it but oh well.........They are also pursuing legal action against the owner of the other car so hopefully after some time, I will get back some of the money that I have already had come out of pocket due to the accident along with my deductible.

DH and I are heading out shopping this afternoon. Hoping for a great deal on a new one or a slightly used one with less than 25,000 miles. I have a long list of cars. Going to start with the Traverse/Enclave at the Chevy/Buick dealership. They have several of the 2013 left in stock along with a slightly used 2013 Traverse that is fully loaded for a good price. It has right at 20,000 miles on it - only thing is it was a rental car for about 10 months and I am not sure about that. By the way - loving the Carfax reports that you can click on and get all the history!

If their website is up to date, they also have an 2013 Odyssey on the used car side with around 9,000 miles on it. The Odyssey is fully loaded and since I discovered Carfax reports - I can see that it has been sitting on their lot since the end of Jan. Since it is a little more than what I want to spend - - wondering since it has been sitting there that long, will they be very negotiable on the price???

Going to hit the Hyundai dealership also this afternoon because it is right up the road to check on the 3rd row Santa Fe's. We are both off Monday so that will be the Nissan, Honda and Toyota day because they are on the same side of town and then work our way around to the Ford, Dodge and GMC lots.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I have a Chevy Traverse and it seats 8 with all three rows up but the back two can be split for flexibility. It is very easy to drive also.

We just bought a 7-passenger Traverse (our middle seats are captains chairs). We LOVE it! We had a 2004 Quest before that. We got it used from Carmax, OP. go in and tell them what you're looking for, and you can test drive several different vehicles from one lot.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Just purchased a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder (the newly restyled one), and love it. It seats 7 with fold down seats and gets good gas mileage. We just drove it to Disney and it got 26 mpg on the highway (much better than the Toyota Sienna that we used to have).

I will say that we just sat in the Chevy Traverse at the end of Test Track and could not believe how cheap it felt on the inside. It was also more expensive than my new Pathfinder, and had MUCH fewer options than my SUV has. The model outside of TT was about $2000 more than my vehicle, and did not have leather seats, a sunroof (mine has 2), or keyless entry and ignition. That was all we noticed off the bat, but I'm sure there were other differences.

Mine has all of these things, but it is the XLT model. It is expensive, but that is why we bought it used!

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Ok first not all mechanics complain about the type they work on. My DH has worked at Toyota and GMC and independent shops. He was not a fan of any GMC products he said it is just not worth the $$$. He loved toyotas because he said a ton would come in that were 15+ years old and no major problems just routine stuff.

We bought a Dodge Durango about 1.5 years ago. We LOVE it! Even with the large engine (hemi) it gets 20 mpg and seats 7. It looks nice and a base one is not that badly priced.

My husbands recommendation is for Toyota or Lexus (same engine parts) if you can afford it.

Overall you need to drive different ones to see what you like. I LOVED my Jeep Wrangler and when I was pregnant with my first child I thought of getting the new 4 door ones with a hard top. I drove it and HATED how it handled. That is just my input. I am only 27 but have already been through 7 cars so I am super picky about what I will drive

I test drove a Lexus SUV, and it handled like a dream! Oh my goodness! Too bad it didn't have enough storage space for us (we often travel with our large dog and kayaking gear).
My husband is drooling over that 4-door Jeep Wrangler. It's all he talks about.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

With the Enclave on your list, look over the newspaper for dealer ads. I see these HEAVILY discounted quite a bit. Usually, there will be a dealer or two with 1 that they've had for a LONG time that they want to move.

 

[Cobern]

I test drove a Lexus SUV, and it handled like a dream! Oh my goodness! Too bad it didn't have enough storage space for us (we often travel with our large dog and kayaking gear).
My husband is drooling over that 4-door Jeep Wrangler. It's all he talks about.

I LOVED the Lexus SUV but it was just too much money and I could not justify it with me not working

Have him test drive the Wrangler. It handles very odd to me and since I drive long distances (1.5 hours each way) I need something I am super comfortable with. I loved my 2 door one though it was a 2005. The new body style 2 door handles different too . We still talk about how we should have never traded it in.

 

[ckpoodge]

I enjoy my Chevy Traverse. I had to buy a car because I got a new job that requires me to drive to my office rather than use public transportation. We needed a second car for the grandchildren anyway. They're still in car seats and we all know they take up a lot of room. Even though there will only be 5 of us in the car, I knew I wanted something to fit 7. I think if I had to, I could squeeze 8, and have a little room left for totes in the back.

One thing I did have to do was add a luggage rack, so we could get the battle wagon (stroller) down to Disney. That got to be expensive. I also added the DVD package, and ended up having to have it hard-wired to the radio because we were getting too much static.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Thanks everyone - I heard from the adjuster last night and it was totaled. They are giving me a very reasonable price for a 2006 van with 114,000 miles on it. I was hoping to keep that van and possibly top 200,000 before replacing it but oh well.........They are also pursuing legal action against the owner of the other car so hopefully after some time, I will get back some of the money that I have already had come out of pocket due to the accident along with my deductible.

DH and I are heading out shopping this afternoon. Hoping for a great deal on a new one or a slightly used one with less than 25,000 miles. I have a long list of cars. Going to start with the Traverse/Enclave at the Chevy/Buick dealership. They have several of the 2013 left in stock along with a slightly used 2013 Traverse that is fully loaded for a good price. It has right at 20,000 miles on it - only thing is it was a rental car for about 10 months and I am not sure about that. By the way - loving the Carfax reports that you can click on and get all the history!

If their website is up to date, they also have an 2013 Odyssey on the used car side with around 9,000 miles on it. The Odyssey is fully loaded and since I discovered Carfax reports - I can see that it has been sitting on their lot since the end of Jan. Since it is a little more than what I want to spend - - wondering since it has been sitting there that long, will they be very negotiable on the price???

Going to hit the Hyundai dealership also this afternoon because it is right up the road to check on the 3rd row Santa Fe's. We are both off Monday so that will be the Nissan, Honda and Toyota day because they are on the same side of town and then work our way around to the Ford, Dodge and GMC lots.

Yes, they will deal well with you on the van that's been there for a while. Just remember, there may be a reason it's been there that long (mechanical, color, interior damage - why did someone get rid of it at only 9000 miles?).

And if you get a Traverse/Enclave, I think you will be very happy with it. Mine has clicked over 51K since this thread started and I had to get it washed. Really, that's all I do to it - wash it, change the oil, rotate the tires. Oh, and change the back windshield wiper. Just did that for the second time two weeks ago.