We are going "New Car" shopping

Well, it's long overdue. Rick finally sat me down last week and said that he really wanted me to start serious vehicle shopping now. He gave me a financial limit and told me to get what I want for that price. His only requirement is that the vehicle must have all-wheel drive. Other than that, it's my decision.

We may not get rid of Clarence (my 2001 PT Cruiser). To be honest, I don't know that I can....I just love that car. And Rick said that if we keep him, he may drive him back and forth to work in the warmer months to save money on gas; he has a Toyota Tundra and it costs a bit to keep the tank full.

I'm looking at small SUVs and crossovers. So today, we will be driving the 2012 Hyundai Tucscon Limited, the 2011 Toyata Rav4 Limited, the 2011 Jeep Compass Limited, and the 2011 Honda CRV EX-L. I'm not really interested in a Chevy or a Ford.

So I've read reviews after reviews after reviews and I think I'm ready to drive. Wish me luck....I'm going to need it!

(And I promised dear Richard I'd take him out for dinner tonight to reward him for what I know is going to be a long day.)

Good luck finding the perfect vehicle (which obviously has to fit cat carriers comfortably)! My sister had a Hyundai (she passed it on to one of her sons), and I wasn't impressed with the way little parts kept breaking off in the interior. Everybody I know who has a Honda or Toyota swears by them. Jeeps seem to get mixed reviews re reliability. Have fun car shopping!

Did you include the Subarus in that list?  After all, ALL of them are all-wheel drive.

Good luck! I'll be curious to see what you learn. My 2003 GMC Envoy has over 130,000 miles on it and while we plan to keep repairing it , we've already starting thinking about what we would get next and the Honda CR-V is on the list.

I'm gonna get a Subaru Forester next. Might be a good thing to add to your list. Have fun shopping!

Good luck hun! As you know we recently bought a Ford and we absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Enjoy!

Good luck Pam.    There's nothing I hate more than car shopping.  I take a  bottle of aspirin with me!     If you remember, a few months ago we bought a Nissan Altima.  We've always had good luck with Japanese cars and have driven Hondas for years.     We have a Saturn (which they discontinued).  It's a nice little car, but just doesn't measure up to the Japanese.

Whatever you get - good luck.

Good luck! Let us know how you get on! I've been looking at 4x4's. My Mum has a Honda CRV, which she loves. I've been looking at used cars, I bet the new ones are amazing! I drive an 04 Jeep Cherokee today, diesel, and absolutely fell in love with it.

We're back for awhile.....Rick's watching the PennState game.

It's a toss-up between the Tucson Limited and the Rav4 Limited. I really like the Tucson; Rick really likes the Rav4. Neither of us really like the CRV....too bare bones, even for a Limited, and it just looks too much like a minivan for me. I didn't really care for the appearance of the Jeep Compass either and the highway noise was loud; we both noticed that the brakes seemed pretty soft, too.

The 2012 Hyundais are out now. The 2012 Toyotas will come out in December.

Both the Hyundai and the Toyota handled very well. Highway noise was minimal in both. The interior of the Toyota seemed nicer than that of the Hyundai. The Toyota seemed to have more "get up and go". I love the panoramic sunroof, the nav system and the better music system on the Hyundai. And I hate those roof rails; with the Hyundai I don't have to have them, but the Toyota has them and I can't get rid of them. The Toyota's cargo space is amazing; that's because the spare tire is on the outside of the vehicle......the inside is almost cavernous! But the Hyundai gets better gas mileage. And going from a PT Cruiser to a Rav4 makes the Rav4 look gigantic; that's a little intimidating to me (as silly as that sounds). Leg room in the rear seats was better in the Hyundai than in the Toyota; we agreed on that.

Rav4 - Barcelona Red exterior

Tucson - either Garnet Red or Chai Bronze exterior

Although, to be honest, most of my cars have been a form of red and I'm getting a little tired of red. The Barcelona Red is sweet, though.

I don't really care for the appearance of the Subarus...any of them, really. That's why they're not on my list.

So we've narrowed it down to the Rav4 or the Tucson.

Good luck with your choice!  The car we just traded in for my subaru was a Toyota.  It was a 2000 and still ran pretty good.  Obviously not like "new" but good.  And it was amazing on gas.  The sales guy said it would make someone a good first car.  It was sad to see our "date-mobile" go.  When we took our last ride in it with DD I told her "This is where Daddy used to keep his mints!"

If you like your PT Cruiser, and it isn't giving you problems (you said that your husband may continue to drive it),  why are you shopping for a newer car?

We bought a Ford Festiva last year so I don't drive the truck as a commuter vehicle.  Its great on gas, the snow and I can haul lots of stuff in it.  I will always get deals on Fords so I will stick with them.

Natalie_ca said:

If you like your PT Cruiser, and it isn't giving you problems (you said that your husband may continue to drive it),  why are you shopping for a newer car?

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Because we are at a point where we need a better car to drive when we go for long distance traveling. There is no way we would even think about taking the Cruiser to Canada, for example, and so we would have to take the Tundra, which is harder on gas. Yet we need the Tundra for hauling things for our house and property and we've never regretted buying the truck. It has paid for itself time and time again when we bring home something from Lowe's that simply won't fit in the Cruiser. Things like that. When we brought Rupert (the gargoyle) home, that alone saved us a huge delivery fee. Same with the lion fountain and the bird bath.

Part of my job is to get out in the field and look at stormwater detention ponds, driveways, and the like. After a poultry barn has been constructed I go out to make sure it's done according to the land development plans. If there are issues, I go out to get pictures. And even if there's snow on the ground, I still have to go out there. Often I'm really out in a very rural area. Sometimes I might ride with our engineer, but often, quite often I'm out there by myself. If it's just to inspect a trash rack or something minor, instead of paying the engineer, I'll just do it. I've been lucky that I've never had major vehicle problems. But Rick worries about that; he knows there are areas that don't have good cell reception. He's been talking about another car for the last year or two.

And yes, a new vehicle could get a flat tire or something like that. But I can change a tire if I have to. If the Cruiser doesn't start (and that did happen to me once; thank goodness I was able to reach AAA) and if I can't reach anybody on my cell, I'm in trouble. And yes, it's my job and I'm expected to do my job.

What I'm not sure of is whether it's worth it to keep the Cruiser for him to use for driving back and forth to work. It's much cheaper than driving the Tundra, that's for sure. But there is the car insurance, although since Clarence is so old now, we would only insure him for the minimum at this point. We have to figure that out, if it's worth keeping. And we also have to figure out if it would even be worth trying to use it for trade-in value. One of my co-workers has driven the Cruiser quite a bit and he's seriously interested in using it as his second car. (Although I don't like the idea of selling any car to a friend or a co-worker, even "as is"; if something would happen, I'd feel really bad.)

I know a couple people who have had the RAV4 and they love them so that would be my choice if I wasnt such a die hard Ford person LOL

Good luck car shopping. We are kind of in the same boat but looking into trading in both vehicles for a 4 door Super Duty since we really do need the heavier duty truck but it also at this current moment needs to be able to be a family car till DF gets his license back and then we decided on my car being a Fusion since its a car and AWD and gets good mileage.

I like the Rav4. But I like the Tucson more. We're going to drive both of them again this weekend and then make our decision, I guess.

Be wary of the Rav4, I know they had transmission issues a few years back.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/200...ion-to-transmission-woes-draws-customers-ire/

Being Toyota it's probably fixed by now, but I know it caused more of an uproar than the recent accelerator/brake problems they had because of the way they handled the situation.

I did hear about those Rav4 transmission problems. Thank you!

Rick and I have been discussing pros, cons, and everything else. I really want to go with the Hyundia Tucson Limited. He said that's fine with him as I'll be the one driving it. Nonetheless, we are going to do another test-drive this Saturday with both of them. And at that point, we'll make a final decision.