Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Halo on August 29, 2004, 11:34:58 PM
-
Thinking about buying an end of year 2004 Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4. Any experience with these or recommendations on buying one?
-
I dont like either one, but then again I dont like any kind of SUV, except for the Dodge Durango.
My cousin has a CR-V. Works great for her, but Ive never done anything with it.
-
Subaru Forester XT
-
Those 2 are like Honda Civic and Toyota Corola with high heels!
I'll got for funk's Subaru :)
-
My sister had one of the earlier 2 door Rav's. She loved it.
-
Limiting yourself to just a Rav4 or CR-V is pretty bad. Forrester XT, Escape, Xterra.. all of those are good substitutions as well.. if you can get over the Hyundai name then the Santa Fe is an excellent SUV as well. Hyundai have made marked improvements in reliability and fit and finish over the last few years. But if I were to buy one.. Subaru, but I like to go fast. :D
-
Funked Subur's suck. they are phaggy cars imo. Somewhere in germany a engineer laughs.
-
Somewhere in Germany an engineer gets pwn3d. :D
-
Originally posted by FUNKED1
Somewhere in Germany an engineer gets pwn3d. :D
Bah no subur can beat a porsche 911 Turbo.:D Or an audi TT Limited Edition.
-
I'd take the Subaru, that's a car you can do something with, not a toy. Their quality is not too good though.
Actually I wouldn't take any new car. Tonight I'll change my new darlings head gasket, it's a beautiful red 1990 Renault 19.:D
-
I drove a new Escape Sport this weekend. A 2005 model. Looking to buy one. I was pretty impressed. I drove and would probably buy the 2WD version as I don't really need 4WD.
It was roomy, comfortable, I thought it well laid out, and peppy with the Duratec 3.0. Handling, for a SUV, felt good to me too, it didn't feel tippy.
-
Originally posted by B17Skull12
Bah no subur can beat a porsche 911 Turbo.:D Or an audi TT Limited Edition.
Porsche 911 Turbos are not the end all be all.. and if you think an Audi TT LE is something that a Subaru can't beat.. well you have a lot to learn.
-
Is it for the wife?
-
Take a look at Suzuki... gotta friend with one. They're not bad.
-
"Thinking about buying an end of year 2004 Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4."
Stop thinking--that's about the best thing you can do.
Honestly, those "mini-suv's" are too small, have poor perfomance, terrible handling, bad gas mileage (for their size), limited utility, no comfort, generally poor workmanship, and are usually overpriced for what you get. They have utterly no redeeming qualities. Don't get one.
Buy a PT Cruiser or one of those Subaru pseudo-wagon things if you want a small car with a tallish cabin.
J_A_B
-
I'll second the suggestion to buy a Subaru. Or go with an Xterra.
My current vehicle is a 98 Toyota 4runner. Never had any trouble with it. Still running on the same tires that came with the truck (Michelins) but replaced the belts and such as regular maintenance. It qualifies as a mid-size SUV.
My wife's vehicle is a 02 Nissan Xterra. A/C makes a funny noise but dealership can't find anything wrong with it. I suspect compressor clutch but what do I know; I'm just a consumer. Other than that, its been a great little truck. It qualifies as a mini-SUV, but is only 6 or 7 inches shorter than the 4runner. We don't miss those few inches. I like the fact that you can take the upholstery off the seats and wash the fabric, then put it back on. The seams are held together by plastic clips. :)
(http://www.nissanusa.com/m/cma/i/4xt/4xterra_gal_big07.jpg)
(http://www.nissanusa.com/m/cma/i/3xt/3xterra_gal_big10.jpg)
My advice: if you want small, go with a Subaru. If you want not-so-small, go with the Nissan.
As for the CRV and RAV-4, my general rule of thumb is to avoid anything with the spare tire mounted over and beyond the protection of the bumper. You back into one post and you're looking at a couple grand in bodywork repairs, and probably a shattered rear window, too.
Also keep in mind that a short wheel base and high center of gravity will make the CRV and RAV-4 spin like a top.
-
Originally posted by gofaster
I'll second the suggestion to buy a Subaru. Or go with an Xterra.
Have to say... I love my X. Guess I should have recommended. Assumed that if he was in the market for CRV or RAV4, he wasn't looking at truck-based SUVs.
(http://www.dotdoubledot.com/img/photos/040430/captkiddjeepcache.jpg)
Oh... and I must mention that the sheep like it!
(http://www.dotdoubledot.com/img/photos/040430/elpasoscache1.jpg)
-
Buy a snazzy new red dress and a pair of high heels, then just do eenie meani miney moe to pick between the CRV or RAV.
-
We own a 98 CR-V, and a 04 CR-V, and a 04 Civic. The 98 CR-V has 122k on it and runs like new car. As you can see, I'm sold on Hondas.
edit: buy what you like, like what you buy...to paraphrase someone in here. :D
-
Thanks guys for the advice, macho oriented as would be expected. You might enjoy a little more background about my SUV quest, since buying autos gets to be such an expensive hassle sooner or later.
I had a 2000 Ford Focus SE wagon which I loved. One of best all-around ergnomically outstanding and peppy but practical cars I've ever seen, and lots of raters thought so too.
But ... at 28,000 miles (six months after the 36-month warranty expired), the air conditioner also expired. $1500 for whole new basic guts. Ridiculous for car AC to ever go out, and that soon shows a basic manufacturer problem that the manufacturer ought to correct gratis.
Naturally it was my tough luck and no help from the Ford dealer (even with all its We-Are-Wonderful trophies prominently displayed), so I figured it was time to consider other alternatives before spending around $2k for new AC and 30k checkup and maintenance on a four, soon to be five, -year-old car.
Never had an SUV, and frankly no longer do enough surfing or non prime road driving to need one, but thought an SUV still might be handy.
I drove the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V. The RAV4 is generally rated snazzier and more agile and the Honda larger and more versatile.
I tried to like the RAV4 but detest the black on white gauges, the tach in the middle of the dash (for an automatic!), the generally squeezed in feeling, especially in the back seat, and short wheelbase.
I liked the CR-V but as usual Honda was basically arrogant and would not deal. When looking for a new car, I always start with Honda but have never bought one yet because they basically dictate instead of negotiate, and no product is that perfect.
So I drove the RAV4 again. And finally realized that most of all I want a terrifically reliable car with plenty of comfort, size, economy, performance, durability, and value.
So I bought a Toyota Camry LE four-door sedan. Yes, just like your father's Oldsmobile, which also was a terrific car.
Thanks again for your SUV advice. SUVs look like fun but I found I needed just a good ol' plain sedan after all.
-
The Camry was a much smarter choice than either of those two "suvs".
MT... you still have the gayest car of the posters on the BBS. That's coming from a Mini owner. HAHAHAHAHA.
-
The Camry is an excellent choice, and all kidding aside, MiniT speaks the truth Sand.
-
MT posted in this thread?
I can verify that Sandy and MT are not the same guy. I saw them both at the same time.
BTW thx Sandy for the AccessPort contribution. Only $389.99 to go!!!
-
yea same here, but i got the Faces wrong at Chino i think. Mt was the Blading guy with Grey hair and i confused Sandy with Bumbwipe.:o Sandy was the guy who brought his 2 kids right?
-
Originally posted by Halo
[BBut ... at 28,000 miles (six months after the 36-month warranty expired), the air conditioner also expired. $1500 for whole new basic guts. Ridiculous for car AC to ever go out, and that soon shows a basic manufacturer problem that the manufacturer ought to correct gratis. [/B]
What happened, did the compressor broke(not unusual in a Ford)? That sounds pretty expensive. Did the manufacturer refuse to accept even partial liability for the repairs?
-
I don't believe he did post in this thread funkytard, but that doesn't mean his car isn't the gayest. Let's say sandman's car rated a 5 on a scale of 1-10 on the gayness chart. MT's car would be about 10 times gayer than that. Yes... a 50.
-
Rav-4 is a Jeep wannabe.
You need to get yourself a nice Jeep Wrangler Sport or Sahara.
-
Yes, Mora, after a dye leak test the dealer concluded the entire compressor needed to be replaced. It was the usual 3-year or 36,000-mile warranty, whichever comes FIRST (as usual, not later which would be better warranty), and I missed it by six months but still 8,000 miles under the warranty.
Had a 1985 Pontiac 6000 which also was a great car except its air conditioner went out about a year after warranty. I stupidly bought an extended warranty from a third-party (still through the dealer), but they always weaseled out of fixing the ac.
That was before dye tests, so while various connections were tested and some seals replaced, the ac would never hold a charge more than a couple months.
That was the bad-for-atmosphere CFC-22, so I quit feeding the leak and just drove the car several years without ac.
I've had quite a few other cars, some of them not rated that highly, that had great air conditioners and never needed any recharging.
Seems like many vehicles as always are luck of the draw, although the excellent consumer and auto rating services can help us get better odds.
-
Originally posted by B17Skull12
yea same here, but i got the Faces wrong at Chino i think. Mt was the Blading guy with Grey hair and i confused Sandy with Bumbwipe.:o Sandy was the guy who brought his 2 kids right?
I brought my son and his friend. FWIW, I think MT has more hair than I.
-
yea i remember that.:D
-
Camry was an excellent decision. If you don't go off-pavement, then you don't need an SUV. I bought 2 SUVs because my street floods and I wanted to be sure I could get out in case I get a hurricane evacuation call (which has already happened once this year, might happen again by next week).
Most manufacturers have a car-based wagon model to offer if you want something with wide open cargo space. I'm glad to see those are coming back into vogue (to some extent). I gotta say, the Dodge Magnum looks pretty sweet!