Getting a new family car.

[black roadster]

We just started the process of looking for a new family car.

The wife has some requirements.

Leather seating for 6+ passengers
Raised driving position (basically an SUV)
Bells and whistles. Our current vehicle, a Mazda MPV was pretty basic on the equipment list.

She is blogging about the search. If any of you are interested in reading it, you can follow it.

Last night we looked at and drove the Mazda CX-7 and CX-9. The CX-7 is out. Way too noisy, under powered (drove the base 4-cyl).

The CX-9 was really nice. The Grand Touring model we drove was decked out nicely.

Things we liked about it.

Black carpet and floor mats to hide dirt.
Dual HVAC controls
Rear Camera and touch screen GPS/Stereo
Memory seats
Key-less operation
Proximity alert when changing lanes
Blue tooth

Things we didn't like

We felt it could have been a bit quieter.
No iPod interface (just an AUX-in)
No charging ports for passengers (anyone doing this?)

Over all we like the CX-9 but we will drive other cars in it's class and price range to make a finally call.

[Rob®]

What do you mean by no charging ports for passengers? You looking for charging ports for all 6+ people?

My Pathfinder has three ports that I know of: the usual one under the radio, one in the center console, and one in the rear cargo area (I never saw a point to that one till just recently, and I have to say it is a godsend the rare time I've needed it). I know most of the newer Nissan trucks have at least that many. Figured that was standard by now. Really surprised Mazda overlooked/doesn't care about this.

[Sharpie]

What year is your MPV and how many miles? Mine has 141k and my neighbors, a year newer, has 151k.

[MoonieGT]

I just picked up my new dad-mobile last Saturday: 2012 WRX Hatchback. Fits two carseats in the back perfectly. So far it's fantastic! Probably not big enough for your needs though... But who cares, it has a turboooo!

[black roadster]

What year is your MPV and how many miles? Mine has 141k and my neighbors, a year newer, has 151k.

2005 and 113k

[altiain]

We have similar requirements for our next family vehicle.

The three we've narrowed the search to are Mazda CX-9, Toyota Highlander, and Ford Explorer. The Highlander is our likely choice.

[POS Racing]

My dad has a 2009 Highlander V6 Sport it has been an absolute Tank!

[BigDmiata]

With the 3 kids now, two in car seats, Olivea's Tribute barely holds us all (poor Ari is crammed in-between the car seats). We are looking into the Mazda5 (6seat microvan) Doesn't have tons of bells and whistles, but seems like a nice fuel efficient vehicle to get the family around.

[trickyrix]

Don't rule out a Chevy Traverse or GMC Acadia. My dad got a Traverse to replace his Tahoe and it's a very nice ride. Plenty of room, nice and quiet, kick ass stereo, decent gas mileage, optional AWD, and plenty of pep.

[altiain]

The Acadia/Traverse are quite a bit bigger than a CX-9/Highlander - the Acadia is actually a couple inches longer than a Yukon!

I had an Acadia as a rental on a field visit last year. Can't remember the trim level, but it did have AWD. It was okay, but it just didn't click for me. If I were looking for an SUV that big, I'd probably opt for a Yukon instead.

[motorollow]

I know you will not want one, but my 2001 Chevy Van with the 5.7 L V-8 has been a great family vehicle over the last 11 years. Its still running strong with 155K miles. I have hauled many things besides people including 12 foot long lumber and was able to close the doors. I have pulled trailers full of furniture and boats. My kids called it the "Beast" when they were in high school and now they want to borrow it for college road trips. It has been the best and most versatile vehicle I have owned.

[black roadster]

Wife want's me to post her next blog post. Here it is.

She says she want's to starting reviewing cars now. A woman reviewing cars with a practical family point-of-view... she might have something there.

[boisking]

Are you budgetarily constrained? Audi and VW make pretty nice SUVs.

I'll second the highlander notion and add 4-runner. Used Land Cruisers can last 200k+ and will be leather, 3 rows of seats, and powerful (also 4x4 and indestructible while mall-wheeling).

When you specify 6+ seating, you are entering the full-size arena. V-8 and associated fuel economy is common. If this is OK, check the luxury domestic brands for a good deal on a used vehicle.

[dark shadow]

the new 2012 ford explorer is very nice and seems to meet all her requirements,

[rpmchris]

We just leased a new 2013 Ford Explorer Limited with V6 and Equipment Group 301A (voice-activated nav, Luxury Seating Package with heated and cooled front seats, PowerFold 3rd rear seat, power liftgate, etc.), plus the Towing Package. It's Sterling Gray with Medium Light Stone leather and polished aluminum wheels. It's very good looking.

We had been leasing a 2008 Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring with every option - it had 91,000 miles and it was time to turn it in. It had been a great car, but we were ready for a new one. We also wanted something to tow my MX-5 with (the CX-9 had only a 3500 lb towing capacity; the Explorer is 5000 lb).

The Explorer is about 2" wider and 1" shorter than the CX-9, and has a more substantial feel to it, although the steering is lighter, less "sporty" than the CX-9 (no more zoom-zoom) and definitely more "American." But the fit and finish is excellent, and the electonic gizmos are so darn cool!

I was sold on going with the Ford because they used to own a stake in Mazda (my engine says "FoMoCo" on it), and didn't take the government bailout like the others.


IMAG0973[1] by rpmchris, on Flickr

IMAG0972[1] by rpmchris, on Flickr

IMAG0971[1] by rpmchris, on Flickr

[goofygrin]

The highlander is booooriiiinnng and really the fit and finish, IMO isn't that good.

The Acadia is nice and the captains chairs for the middle row make it for me. Not more "dad he's poking me" etc.

I can't stand the smell of a Ford any more. They just smell like JimBob shit in the front seat when installing some plastic bauble.

[altiain]

Lol,,, the guy with a Wrangler as a family SUV is complaining about the fit and finish on a Toyota?

[goofygrin]

Since '11 when the wrangler's interior was redesigned they are nice on the inside. It's not like the old school ones... this one you do actually care if it gets rained on!

[black roadster]

We had the opportunity to drive some more cars on Friday.

First we checked out the Honda Pilot. We both like the Honda a lot. It was quiet, had lots of room and the salesman named Trey at Honda Cars of McKinney was great! If you are in the market for a new Honda, definitely go see him! He was knowledgeable and honest. We actually wish we liked the Pilot more just to buy from him.

Since we had to meet family in Decatur, we decided to check out some of the local dealers there.

Next stop was the Ford Dealer to look at the new Ford Explorer. It drove fine and like rpmchris said, I liked the larger towing capacity. The Ford Sync system was cool too. However, the blind spots were crappy, the side mirrors too small and with the rear seats folded down the floor did not seem like it would hold up to our 50lb boxer. I did love the instrumentation on the Ford too.

On to the Chevy/GMC/Buick dealer to have one the crappiest salesman of the bunch. He was actually a young guy but the first thing he did was start talking price in his office before we looked at a single vehicle. His comment that a Chevy Traverse at 45k was "affordable" almost made the wife walk but definitely killed any interest we had in this guy or his vehicles. A brief look at the Traverse (we didn't even want to drive it) and we saw typical Chevy crap. The interior looked cheap compared to the others. The exterior was bland and blind spots looked bad as well.

Next stop was the Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler dealer. Evidently, the Grand Cherokee doesn't offer third row seating. The only thing he showed us was the Dodge Durango and the Dodge Journey. The Durango was big but had a very large towing capacity of something like 6500 lbs. It had the "mean" look of the Charger and wasn't bad but nothing we fell in love with. We then looked at the Journey. This small town dealer didn't have much in the way of selection but the Journey was the least expensive of the cars we looked at. It had nice family friendly features like built-in booster seats for the kiddos, under-floor storage and even the front passenger seat bottom lifted up for hidden storage. We put that on the "look-see" list when we got back to the metromess but it wasn't a top contender.

The next stop was back to a different Mazda dealer (Eldorado in McKinney) since the salesman we had at Town North was not very knowledgeable. That was the plan for Saturday and will be the subject of my next post.

[black roadster]

So Saturday afternoon we decided to head up to McKinney again to the Mazda Dealer. With the Pilot still fresh in our minds we wanted to compare it to the CX-9. The Pilot at this point was still a contender even though I didn't care for the cheapish looking front center console area, the bland styling and the so-so acceleration. It was still a nice car with plenty of room, nice feel and a very quiet interior due in part to noise-canceling white noise it played out of the speakers.

Our plan was to look at the Mazda CX-9, Toyota Highlander, Dodge Journey (for shits and giggles) and whatever else we came across. "Minnie" our MPV had other plans though. Part of the reason we were trading is because the MPV had recently started acting up with some hard shifting from the transmission. Well, as soon as we hopped on the freeway the MPV went to shit! It wasn't accelerating well, was shuttering and then about a two miles from the Mazda dealer, the check engine light started flashing. (For those that don't know, a flashing check engine light means something more major than a loose gas cap.) The wife said, just get it to the dealer and park it which I promptly did.

So here we are at the Mazda dealer and we looked at the CX9 again. Regardless of our circumstance, everything just felt "right" in the CX9. My only real complaint was the back-up camera didn't have the yellow lines and radar sensor of the other models. Evidently this was due to the Tsunami that hit Japan that affected the supplies of this technology to the CX9 as the early 2010 models evidently had the lines.

We felt that the CX-9 felt more expensive than anything we drove, we liked how the dash and console wrapped around the two front seats and the rear seats, including the third row were roomy enough for adults on short trips. The acceleration, handling and braking were all Mazda. They really do have that sporting character in all their vehicles if they can make an large cross-over SUV feel fun to drive.

Naturally, the dealer could have had us by the jewels especially after driving Minnie. However, this was the easiest, most pleasant car experience we ever had. We dealt directly with the sales manager during the negotiating and it was low pressure and pleasant. Their service department said the transmission and motor mounts were shot. Even so they offered us $500 less than what we were expecting on Minnie before the mechanical problems. On top of that, we bought the car for $200 above invoice plus we got a $500 customer loyalty rebate and the $1500 manufacturer to dealer rebate. The only thing they couldn't beat was our credit union financing. All told we got a loaded up 2012 CX-9, leather, navigation, sunroof, tow package with an MSRP of $38,610 for roughly $31k +TTL after trade and rebates.

Again, if you are in the market for a new Mazda, Eldorado is a great place to buy one. We loved the experience even though our old car barely made it and love our new CX-9 GT! Pictures to follow once the sun comes up.

Since we hang onto our vehicles (Minnie was with us for 6 years and 113k) and cars these days have lots of expensive computers and electronics we decided to go with an extended warranty. We were offered a 6 year 120k mile Mazda warranty with a $100 deductible for $2,100 but negotiated that down to $1,645.

BTW, the new CX-9 is Stormy Blue with the sand leather. She already has a name. "Dory" after the blue fish with the positive outlook in Finding Nemo. "Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming" although for us it's more like "Just Keep Paying, Just Keep Paying."