Why can't I find an AWD?

[Tweetybird999]

I'm trying to find a new car. My list for "must" have is rather simple: all wheel drive and big trunk. That's it. Now for the life of me, why can't I find something under $36,000.00 inclucing tax?? That just seems to be way too much for driving to and from work and the hockey rink. The idea of these places is to drag payments out for 72-90 months! Good grief. I'm just not into paying for anything except a house for that long, even at 0% interest! No, I"m not going to buy a used vehicle, unless it has less than 20,000 km on it. Why? Because I don't have enough time to go around fixing cars when something breaks every few months. Really, have I missed the boat somewhere?

[CourtE]

Look at a Dodge Journey. We have one and love it, has a good amount of space in the trunk and it's AWD. They are cleaning out 2012 models of everything so you can get a new one at a great price.... No matter what brand you look at. (ford, Chevy, dodge)

Good luck

[lessthannat]

AWD is tricky - I have been looking for one also
I am going the used route though, BMW 3 series x drive I think or Audi - both have excellent certified pre-owned programs

[Tweetybird999]

Yes. Their programs are excellent for certified. I will look into it more.

[Shwa Girl]

Look at a Dodge Journey. We have one and love it, has a good amount of space in the trunk and it's AWD. They are cleaning out 2012 models of everything so you can get a new one at a great price.... No matter what brand you look at. (ford, Chevy, dodge)

Good luck

Question: when they clear out the last year's model, do you get the full 3 year warranty when you buy the car or truck or do they cut the number of years left in the warranty? We may be looking for a 2012 car, but not until we have all the money saved (sometime in 2013).
Thx.

[Safyre]

Good question Shwa Girl - the warranty should go from the date of purchase, not date of manufacturing.
And which company has only a 3 year warranty? Most I've been looking at are 5 years +

[CourtE]

You do still get full warranty.... as long as its a new car/truck/van/suv

[CourtE]

Good question Shwa Girl - the warranty should go from the date of purchase, not date of manufacturing.
And which company has only a 3 year warranty? Most I've been looking at are 5 years +

It's 3 year bumper to bumper, 5 year powertrain

[DolceBella]

I agree, look into the Dodge Journey. I just traded in my 2009 Journey for a 2012 Journey. I absolutely LOVE it!!

[Minou]

But, DolceBella, didn't you say that a lot was going wrong with the 2009 Journey you traded in? You haven't had the 2012 long enough to know whether your 2009 was the lemon, or whether all of the Journeys have the same problems.

My first car was a 6-month old domestic, and I spent a huge amount of time and money at the garage. I swore I'd never buy a domestic again. My next car was a 2001 Acura EL (Acura is Honda's luxury division), which I kept for just over 11 years... bought it for $25,000 and sold it for $4,700 in September. I feel I really got value. I only did regular maintenance-type items and fixed a few sensors in its tenth year, and it never did have a mechanical breakdown or any kind of major work required. As a result, when I wanted a bigger vehicle, I bought a Honda product -- a CR-V. I paid around $36,000 for it, and got the loaded one, though you can get other models for less.

I see other smaller SUVs on the road (and some of the bigger ones), and think they look nice. Then I see the logo and know they're domestics, and think about how often they're going to be in the shop and how their owners will probably be looking to get rid of them in 4-5 years. Personally, I like to be able to drive a vehicle for 10 years (wonderful to be able to be able to use 'car payment money' for other things for 6-7 years!), and CR-Vs have a good track record. They also have good resale, while the domestic products have an awful tendency to lose value as soon as you drive them off the lot. They come in AWD as well. They have a decent amount of cargo room and the back seats fold down if you need more space for something. I'm really enjoying driving mine.

Good luck with your car search!

[CourtE]

We've had our 2012 Journey for 9 months and its great, we got a fully loaded R/T and find it was worth the money.... at least for our family =)

[PurpleBunny89]

I bought a used car in March and it had 46k on it. Its now November and I haven't had to do any work whatsoever (oilchange only) to it

Just sayin'


But I was in the same mind set as you. Why get a used vehicle when all it means is a weekly trip to the mechanics? But I've been converted, I love my little car. So possibly you could go higher then 20k on a used.

[finsmom]

Have you tried newcarselloff.com ? I think that will be one of my first stops if I ever buy a vehicle. Car dealers post the cars on their lots, sometimes at great discounts, to make room for new vehicles. Instead of running around or calling different places, you can just look them up online.

[Ciel]

Ford Escape 2013 has AWD on all the time; cargo space might not be as generous as in the Journey.

[Ciel]

See if Ford dealer has a demo model to sell, otherwise you'll have to wait weeks for it to be built in the US.