Bought a 2016 Ford Explorer in December 2016 with 16k miles. Over 100k now with 0 issues. Paid $26K, the sticker price brand new was $40K. Never say never but until I get comfortably rich I won't buy a brand new vehicle
Chevy Equinox Thoughts
- Thread starter DesertClone1
- Start date
The aforementioned Equinox that we bought? First NEW car for either one of us...and we were both 68 at the time.
Never say never!
Speaking in general terms, the two best times to buy a vehicle are either when its relatively new (still under warranty) but has had the 'its not a new car' depreciation and when a vehicle has recently gone past its 'bumper to bumper' warranty period based on either mileage or time. Both of those time periods generally see a dip in value that's greater than what it should be based strictly on utility/longevity of the vehicle. There are exceptions to that of course, such as vehicles that are hard to buy new so there's a lot of demand for the slightly used versions.
We were intrigued by the Kia Telluride years ago when they were just coming out. Couldn't even test drive one because they were all sold before they even got to the dealership.
We've had a couple of times where we custom ordered a vehicle and waited for the allocation/it to be built. Once was a truck that we couldn't find anything without a lot of options we didn't want or need (we use it mainly for towing and farm work) so we got a new base model 3/4 ton 4x4 for about the same price as a used one with 40,000 or 50,000 miles with options. Fun fact, you can still get a truck with manual cranking windows, as of a couple years ago when we ordered it, which my dad enjoys showing off to people. The other time was a new model that was in its first model year when we ordered it and people were paying over MSRP. We had to wait quite awhile and by the time ours was built it was the next year's model, but we had locked in the price at the previous year's MSRP (which they honored) and got it exactly how we wanted it.
Back in may bought a new 2024 equinox premier I’m of great height and of size love the room in the drivers and passenger seats good on gas and love the handling
Had the absolute worst luck with Equinox now I own a Rav4 hybrid ,and it is everything I wish the Equinox was.
My wife has a 2013 with the I4 Ecoboost engine, which I hate with a heat of a thousand suns. No balls and it does 30mpg on the highway, but my Audi A6 with a beefy V6 can do 30mpg on the highway just as easily.
The Toyota Grand Highlander was like that this past year, waiting lists of over a year, people putting down payments of $500 to $1000 dollars to the dealership for the opportunity to purchase one when the dealer was allocated one. I had never driven one until I test drove the one I purchased, went totally off of reviews of the vehicle. They were jacking up prices $3,000 to up to $10,000 over the sticker price of the vehicle because they knew people would buy them they were such high demand.
I am on a Facebook GH group, and there are people on the list that have been waiting for 6 to 12 months and still have not gotten a vehicle, but they did stop producing them for two months this summer because of the airbag issue.
Toyota quit using the V6 (NA) in the Highlander after the 2022 model year. Going to the turbo 4 added a "massive" 1 mpg to the combined mileage rating.
Ha I was 24, barely a year out of ISU. Learned quick that not having a car payment is lovely. Hopefully I can carry that to 68The aforementioned Equinox that we bought? First NEW car for either one of us...and we were both 68 at the time.
Never say never!
The last piece of my 6 hour negotiation to get it from $29.9k to $26k was a 6 year 100k mile warranty. Already settled on the price. I got no use out of the warranty
We haven't made a car payment in over 20 years...ever since the last of our kids moved out and we actually had disposable income. But we didn't buy new because, well...we're cheap. He's really good at fixing cars, but the older he got and the more complex the engines got, we finally agreed that we needed to go new with a warranty, hoping that new would be more dependable. We tended to buy fleet cars with low mileage, and we drive vehicles literally into the ground. This will likely be our last car purchase. When Cherry Bomb dies, we'll probably lease. Let someone else take care of R&M.
Ehh I bought a new truck at 24 then sold it at 27 and bought the current SUV new for at the time girlfriend now wife and our kid. I'm on my 3rd used vehicle since. Current fleet is her '20 Palisade that I sold my '17 Ram for, the '98 Trooper I bought has a work beater after the Palisade, and then my '17 Lacrosse. All 3 are currently around 110k miles. Buy new if you can or want to.
Makes since. My grandparents gave me their 18 year old Ranger with who knows how many miles, turned over after 99k, as a high school car. Wish I still had that.
Just bought a 2025 traverse and it has both Android auto and apple carplay
My point was no car payment. I definitely got lucky that I haven't had issues but basically bought new for $14k under sticker. The past 4 years of having a reliable vehicle that I only have paid gas, oil and tires for is money
Car payments aren't a huge issue to us. It's worth it being able to drive vehicles we like. Her SUV is paid off now and my car will be in about a year and 1/2. Then will look at potentially replacing her SUV with another new vehicle as we will have gotten our money's worth out of hers by that time with our typical milage. A lot of people spend a good chunk of time in their vehicles, it's worth driving something you want to.
I have never owned an Equinox but I own a 2015 and 2023 Chevy Traverse so it's basically the next larger SUV model in the Chevy lineup. Bought both brand new, when we bought the 2015 model we test drove the Traverse, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and a Ford Explorer. Ruled out the Explorer right away, it rode rough as hell we thought. The Traverser, Acadia, and Enclave all are essentially the same vehicle but as you go up the chain add about 5-10k in price as they are basically the same engine and chassis but with more bells and whistles for features it felt like. The 2015 Traverse now has about 127k on it and probably is the best vehicle I have ever owned as we haven't dropped any major repairs in it and has been pretty much problem free other than your usual wear and tear maintenance for a vehicle of that age and miles. The 2023 Traverse we have just over 26k on so far and I really like how it rides. It comes with a lot more standard technology features than the 2015 did for it's time. We bought both with pretty much the bare standard options for the AWD LT model.
My in laws have drove a couple Equinox and Traverse models over the years and never heard them complain about problems with them. I do think a lot of how opinions are formed on vehicles is how you drive them. Some people neglect the maintenance on them or drive them hard. Also a big difference on what kind of environment you drive them in, is it mostly city driving, highway, type of climate, and gravel roads also are rough on vehicles too.
It's always interesting to compare car maintenance stories with my dad. I do mostly in-town driving in the DM metro area so a lot of stop and go driving mixed in with some longer highway trips when we go on trips outside of town while he lives on a gravel road so drives on gravel and county roads just to get to town so has more miles on his cars but less stop and go driving. The problems I have with my vehicles compared to his are usually different as the type of driving we do are harder on different parts.
My in laws have drove a couple Equinox and Traverse models over the years and never heard them complain about problems with them. I do think a lot of how opinions are formed on vehicles is how you drive them. Some people neglect the maintenance on them or drive them hard. Also a big difference on what kind of environment you drive them in, is it mostly city driving, highway, type of climate, and gravel roads also are rough on vehicles too.
It's always interesting to compare car maintenance stories with my dad. I do mostly in-town driving in the DM metro area so a lot of stop and go driving mixed in with some longer highway trips when we go on trips outside of town while he lives on a gravel road so drives on gravel and county roads just to get to town so has more miles on his cars but less stop and go driving. The problems I have with my vehicles compared to his are usually different as the type of driving we do are harder on different parts.
