Given the following, what would you do?

After several test drives today, the Hyundais, while really nicely equipped and with the excellent warranty, are simply too tight on space. Hyundai's are out. (though, if you are on the market, the Genesis is a beautiful automobile)

The Honda Pilot......out unfortunately. Good ride but seating considerations are not ideal.

Drove the Chevy Traverse and its seating and cargo makes it a prime candidate but I do have concerns about reliability.

Still have to drive the Toyota Highlander and GMC Acadia, but, honestly, the Acadia, Traverse, Enclave, are very similar, just at different price points, no? What is the major difference there?

(BTW, Moose, we did look at a minivan............must be a generational thing, but they are totally off our radar.)

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Drove the Chevy Traverse and its seating and cargo makes it a prime candidate but I do have concerns about reliability.

Still have to drive the Toyota Highlander and GMC Acadia, but, honestly, the Acadia, Traverse, Enclave, are very similar, just at different price points, no? What is the major difference there?

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To address your first point...Mario your concerns are unfounded. Would a fleet manager who manages a fleet of 70 million dollars a year drive an unreliable car? The answer to that question is...no.

Chevy Traverse- Entry level

GMC Arcadia- Mid point

Buick Enclave- High end

The three are the same platform with different exterior and interior trims and options.

Tom, I think perhaps your misunderstanding me. Your fleet may very well be reliable, but not the most. I was looking at tops in reliability. And at the end of the day, your fleet is going to be influenced, to some degree, by volume pricing, no?

I noticed you said, "Look at JD Power and Associates...far better and less biased reporting." How are Edmunds, KBB and Consumers Reports biased?


From:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars ... faq_ov.htm

1.2. How does CR's survey compare with other reliability surveys?
The timeframes used in collecting data also differ among surveys. J.D. Power's IQS is based on the first 90 days of ownership of new vehicles only, and its VDS (Vehicle Dependability Study) is exclusively based on 3-year-old vehicles. CR's survey asks about subscribers' experiences with their vehicles over the course of the previous 12 months and, starting with 2006, CR's survey now covers 10 model years—from brand-new models to models that are 10 years old, providing a more complete profile of the life of a model. Our Predicted Reliability, which forecasts how well a new model is likely to hold up, is based on the cumulative experiences of owners of the three latest model years.


That said, while I do value the Consumers Reports, edmunds, etc, seeing the cars has had the most impact on whats driving our decision.

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Tom, I think perhaps your misunderstanding me. Your fleet may very well be reliable, but not the most. I was looking at tops in reliability. And at the end of the day, your fleet is going to be influenced, to some degree, by volume pricing, no?

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Our fleet is not made up of Arcadias, our fleet manager drives one based on what he knows of its build quality, btw he looked at the Highlander, great car but talk to me when you try to remove the third row seat. Your putting to much stock into Consumer Reports...the same magazine who takes two vacuums cleaners made by the same OEM with different retail labels and reviews one as crap and one as fantastic.

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Our fleet is not made up of Arcadias

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I didnt say that. However, its usually the case that while a fleet mgr looks at lots of variables, I know that once the top, say, 3 contenders are considered, at some point its who is gonna give the best price.

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based on what he knows of its build quality, btw he looked at the Highlander, great car but talk to me when you try to remove the third row seat

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why would I want to remove the 3rd row seat?????

Seats and the set up are a huge consideration, hence the need to get out there and kick the tires.

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Your putting to much stock into Consumer Report

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Not at all, but its a good first start. Then we went to Edmunds and Kbb and finally narrowed it down to 6 choices to test drive.
But to back my point, to look at the long term reliability, CR is a better resource based on what data they collect.

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made by the same OEM

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Which, BTW, has us considering the Chevy Traverse over the GMC Acadia. Same Lambda platform, just variations on bells and whistles, which are pretty unnecessary for us.

Well, I got some news today--my car was released from the port and loaded onto the truck yesterday, and with any luck I will be driving it by Tuesday!!! It was quite a three month wait, but also the first time I ordered a car built specifically for me.....

mazel tov! can't wait to catch a ride!


Ive got shotgun!

IT"S A JEEP THING!!!!

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1...eepLiberty.jpg

Well, the car arrived at the dealership today, and tomorrow afternoon I am taking delivery of my new 2010 Audi A4!!!!!

I just hope it was worth the wait.........

And the baby has arrived. I had the honor of being the first customer at Legend Audi to take delivery of a 2010 A4-which I had ordered in April. There was a momentary glitch when the NYS Inspection computer came back indicating it was a 1980 model but this appears to be a known issue at DMV.... so here she is:

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/I...90721-1310.jpg
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/I...90721-1310.jpg

I love it. Flick the headlights on and post pics!!!

Nice. 8)

Purrrty.

Beautiful Art. We will be awaiting a ride :D

Nice car, congrats!

You should have kept the 1980 thing and gotten historic insurance rates!

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Originally Posted by Phil D.

You should have kept the 1980 thing and gotten historic insurance rates!

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But then Audi would tell him his warranty expired 25 years ago!

I turns out that New York State DMV knew all about this problem, since March when the first 2010's came out. The VIN's use a code for year which gets reused every 30 years. They had a bulletin on the problem, but since my car was the very first 2010 Audi to be delivered at the dealership (and possibly the state), they didn't know about it--

At the end of the day, I must say I love the car....PLUS it costs $110 a month LESS than the car I just turned back!

Thanks for the kind remarks--Mario you're next--so let me know when you're ready...and I will help you.

I'm lookin to lease a 09 Civic or Corolla right now. haha

Phil,

Happy to help you - let me know when you want to go car shopping!!

I have connections for Nissan, Lexus and VW/Audi, by the way.

So its interesting to see how my vetting process for the new car has gone. Here is one of our earlier posts:

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Actually Highlander is in strong contention.
We are still in research mode, but the Toyota Highlander, Rav4, Hyundai Santa Fe and Veracruz and, only lately the GMC Envoy and Arcadia are being looked at. Saw the Acadia parked next to the Envoy and I think the Acadia is TOO big.

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As we read up on cars over the past few months and did lots of test driving, fuel economy (fueleconomy.gov), trim levels and ride, it turns out that the top contenders ended up being a Honda Pilot, Mazda CX-9, Acura MDX and Chevy Traverse.

The CX-9 and Acura, both nice, but I didn't like the blind spots and Mazda resale was a bit lower. Otherwise, both were notable.

The Traverse/Acadia, both large cars of the same platform, were overblown, meaning that right now when you see Traverse commercials toting better fuel econ, its a trivial gain. Fuel econ of all these models are VERY similar and $$ spent on fuel varies by within $200.

In the end, the top 2 contenders were the Honda Pilot and ChevyTraverse: The problem again with Traverse is that it starts at 30K. When you add that our only necessary minimal accessories needed were a backupcamera, leather and sunroof, it boosts the price to $38,588. In a CX-9, it was 34,500 and in a Pilot EX-L, these were standard for $33.5K. We could not justify spending $5K more for a GM with a minimal fuel economy advantage in the same trim.

So we got our Pilot Monday night. It is the same color as the returned Altima lease, so I joke with my son that the car "grew." Hence the car's name is .....Groo Grux.
Will post pics soon.



In the end though, too bad they dont make these anymore. Drop a diesel or hybrid engine here and this thing sat 3 in front, 4 in the middle and three in back with room to spare. The good ol days are gone! LOL A real chick magnet and mommy mobile!
http://image.nettix.fi/extra/carimg/...b35a375e76.jpg