Question Car choice: Please help narrow it down

Mariana

New member
Hi,
It's time for a new car, and my main concerns are safety and reliability. I have one child, who is 5 right now. I need the car to drive her and occasionaly one of her friends.

I have read the reviews and safety ratings on Edmunds, Consumer reports, etc., but I still cannot decide. My first pick was Honda Accord, but its crash ratings are disappointing, so the Accord is off the list, unfortunately.

Here is what I am looking at:

Subaro Legacy
VW Jetta
Nissan Altima
Honda CR-V

If you have experience with these cars, either good or bad, I would appreciate your sharing it with me.

Another related question is whether I can put a booster seat in the middle of the back seat of any of these cars above.

Many thanks in advance!
 
ADS

Melanie

New member
I'm a fan of Altimas. We just got rid of DH's. It had 145k miles and had very few problems while we owned it. Nice big back seat. A booster will fit in the middle. His was 03, so not the newer style. I'm pretty sure the back seat is about the same though.

eta: informedforlife.org has useful safety ratings
 

mom2juliarose

New member
DH and I both own CR-Vs. He has a 1st generation (1997) with, like, 260K miles on it, and I have a 2nd generation (2005). We love them. DH will be getting a new (to us, we buy Certified Pre-Owned) car soon and we're pretty sure he's getting another CR-V. We were in a crash with his CR-V about a year ago (driving ~60mph when the car in the lane next to us suddenly veered into our lane, hit our car), and I was surprised at how minimal the damage was. We've spent so little $$ on his car besides standard maintenence... I had a Subaru Outback (2000) and we were CONSTANTLY fixing one part or another... which is why I eventually traded it in and we got my CR-V (about a year ago).
 

Mariana

New member
Thank you very much for your replies! I guess I'll have to test drive them and get a feel for the cars. I've never driven an SUV so far, so that was something else to consider.
 

luckyclov

New member
I had a 2003 (it may have been an '04, I don't remember) Altima awhile back and really liked it a lot. I only had it for a year (13K miles) because we outgrew it fairly quickly, but I don't think there was anything at all negative about it. And I know they've done a lot of redesigning and improvements on them over the last few years - so I'd definitely keep the Altima on my list!

Subarus are built like a rock, or used to be, anyways. My mom always drove Subaru wagons. We lived in ME, so it was a lot of rough/weathery driving. After about 100K miles, the exhaust usually gets that *Subaru sound* (whether it's replaced or not), but it still drives like a train...on and on and on.
 

Mariana

New member
Just wanted to share some update. I test-drove some cars this weekend, and I really liked the Subaru. It was suprisingly roomy inside, and it felt good to drive.

I had to take my current car to the shop today for maintenance and other small things, and the mechanic there told me to stick with a Toyota (what I have now), and that a Subaru Legacy would be expensive to maintain. Hmmm.... Both are Japanese cars. Is that really true?? I don't know anything about cars.

I also test-drove the Honda CR-V. I've never had an SUV, but the ride felt fine, and I liked the higher driver's position. I've read so many articles recently, and some of them argue that passanger cars are less safe than SUVs. Others claim that SUVs are extremely dangerous. Should I even contemplate an SUV?

Sorry, I am a bit long winded today, but I have many things to sort out. In the end, I'd like the safest vehicle in my price range. (I recently witnessed a multi-car accident, and I admit it scared me.)
 

sirrahn

Active member
I think many would argue that the CR-V isn't really an SUV in the true sense. It's based on a car platform not a truck, gets decent gas milage, and has good crash test ratings.

If you're looking at it, you might also look at the 2010 Hyundai Tuscon though. It has very impressive crash tests, better fuel economy, better warranty, and more features for the money. We have not bought yet, but we've been shopping and DH has pretty much decided it will be his next car.
 
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vermontmoms

New member
Thank you so much for the suggestion about Tuscon! I'll check it out.

We had most of the cars on your list (CRV, Subaru Forester, Saturn Vue Hybrid, Toyota Rav 4, Toyota Hylander, Kia Sportage) and test drove them all!!! For the last 2mths....exhausting!!!

Anyway, the CRV was top on our list and we were on our way to buy it and we heard an add for Hyundai...so we stopped there on our way. We LOVED the 2011 Hyundai Tuscon...so just to be sure we went back and drove the CRV one more time.

Honestly, there was no comparison...the Tuscon had great pick-up, felt heavier, less road noise, tons of safety features, etc. So we ended up w/a 2011 Hyundai Tuscon...it is AWESOME! Drives like a dream and has such great visability. All the features were paying $$ for on the CRV were already included on our Tuscon and we even have two sunroofs (front row and backseat row). Our boys have great leg room too and their boosters fit great on the outboard positions. We have twins so we don't use the middle but I would think it would be fine. That said, on both the CRV and the Tuscon it would be weird to buckle a booster in the middle b/c the seatbelt is up in the ceiling.

If it were me, I would get the 2011 Tuscon again in a heartbeat for the $$ it is a great buy and gets 31mpgs on the highway and can get up to 37mpgs depending on how you drive.

Hope this helps,
Jen
 

Guest

New member
I dunno how much this matters, but unless you need AWD, I'd skip it. Prolly not worth the extra maintenance and insurance and gas mileage penalty. Subarus are wonderful cars, but they all have AWD. Great if you happen to need it, but if you don't... Same with CR-V and Tucson, altho they're also SUVs so the gas mileage isn't as good as a comparable car. The trunk is an open area, so you can fit tall objects, but I don't necessarily find that you have more trunk room than a car with a regular trunk unless the objects stick higher than the seat backs.
 

gigi

New member
I've had 4 Subarus and none was ever expensive to maintain. You do need to do CV joint replacements and some axel work b/c of the AWD, but since they never break down it is a fair and easy trade off. I just traded in my 1996 Legacy wagon and I was sad to see that go. It had almost 200K miles on it and I had only done a couple of major repairs...all the rest was maintenence. GREAT car. And solid as a rock over any kind of weather conditions. The new ones are really nice too.

I'm in the AWD camp. I love it. I love backing over snow banks to parallel park in a tight spot that everyone else has passed up. And I love not having to dig my car out of those spots too when it is time to leave. I also love never slipping around on wet or snowy roads. If I lived in Florida, I'd probably not be as insistent on having it though :)
 

Traquy

New member
I had always liked the Honda Element for it's practicality and looks, as well as decent gas mileage. But what really sold me on it was its safety ratings. I spent some time on the Element message boards before I made the decision to buy it and one of the members posted pictures of a rollover accident they were in. Both of them walked away and the roof wasn't even caved in. I found several other stories like that. It consistantly has 5 stars.
 

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