Time for new(er) vehicle for wife.

She has run the old 98 Honda Civic into the ground. Im glad because iv been worried if she gets into a wreck the safety of that civic is not good. Dont want to sink money into it.
Need something new(er), a lot safer and reliable...Toyota or Honda. We are thinking something that sits a tad higher than a car but not as big as a full sized suv. What are your recommendations based on what your wives drive?
We would like to keep this under $30K so probably not new. Its been so long since we bought a vehicle besides the Tundra. What are preferred online tools to search for vehicle availability and values?

 

I am not sure what you consider a full-size SUV, but the 4Runner is the best platform that Toyota makes, IMO. That is what my wife drives currently, and we have had great success with them in the past.
My daughter drives a Nissan Xterra. It has about 170,000 miles on it right now and has also been pretty good. I wouldn't hesitate on an Xterra again.

 

RAV4. CRV.

 

Rav4 is nice, exwife has a venza and that's pretty good too but not great mpg with the v6 and awd

 

Do dealers and used car lots typically provide a free carfax or do i need to pay for the service...say $100 for 6 carfax reports?
Is a carfax the first thing to look at if you are interested in a vehicle?

 

Most good used car dealers put the carfax right on the window

 

Looking at Honda pilot 2013 2wd touring 79000 miles listed for $22991. Carfax says right airbag assembly replaced in February but vehicle shows as no accidents and no airbag deployment. We have a neighbor with a pilot and we have always liked it. Test drove today and will take to mechanic tomorrow for inspection. How do I haggle down on price? It seems to be in line with Kelly blue book.

 

My wife drives a 2017 Subaru Legacy Limited 2.5.

 

My wife loves her 2016 Subaru Outback... AWD and 32 MPG on the freeway...

 

1 gen sequoia 220k o issues
It’s cheap now. My 4 cousin works at Honda tec but all these trucks suv are Toyota I don’t understand. lol

 

My sister has a Mitsubishi Outlander. I've driven it and it's very nice for the money. Depending on model you could be well under 30k brand new and the warranty is 5/60 bumper to bumper and 10/100 powertrain.

 

You cant go wrong with the pilot. Its the best value out there I think. We leased one in 2012 and was great all around SUV. The airbag was probably replaced because of the takata airbag recall most manufacturers had few years ago.

Go on cargurus.com and look for the same car on there and see what other dealers are charging. Cargurus is a good site to look for used cars as it gives if its good value or not.

Also look at the RAV4 they should be giving good discounts on them as the new redsigned model should be on the lots by December i think.

 

Mazda CX3. U can get it loaded for 26-28k brand new OTD. Fun to drive crossover.

 

I am big Toyota fan and my wife Honda. (And we agree vice versa that the other's choice is not bad). For a smaller SUV either the RAV4 or CRV are great vehicles. They are just over your $30k budget new, unless you are okay with base model you might be able to make it work. Used will give you a lot of options. I personally like the Highlander (4Runner also but I don't see that for my wife). We also looked at the Subaru Outback - not a bad option.
With all that said, my wife drives a lot, about 40k miles a year, so we got her a Prius V (The station wagon body style) and I have to admit that I love driving that thing. (mancard handed in). It is actually very roomy and very comfortable, and of course the great MPGs.

 

So i looked closer at the Carfax and the vehicle was sold at auction just over a month ago and brought here from Mississippi..Im in Kansas. Hm seems weird that a Honda dealership bought this at auction? Its a 2 owner vehicle and the first owner had it for only 4 months.
Which is better to go by...NADA or Kelly Blue Book? KBB seems to be higher price and NADA seems low. If it looks good on close inspection i would sure like to be closer to NADA price...how do i haggle with them to do that? Sorry for the dumb questions.

 

I am probably going to take a lot of heat for this, but the Hyundai Tucson is worth considering. You can get a brand new one with lots of bells and whistles for under $30k, and their warranty and customer service is ridiculously good. Something to think about.

 

My wife does not like the hybrid suv/cars...i dont either so the crv or rav4 or similar are out.

 

My wife also drives a T4R, we lo ove it. Biased we have had 3 T4Rs.

 

My wife currently drives a '12 Kia Sorento and as much as I wasn't a fan, it's what she wanted so that's what we got. It's an SL so not loaded by any means but it gets good mpg's and surprisingly has been exceptionally reliable and handles bad weather pretty well and all for about 22k. I'd love to see her in a 4Runner but she likes the Highlander.

 

New Rav4, awd, le. My wifes '16 was under $25k out the door.

 

Wife drives a Subaru Outback... $27k brand new. 0% still on the 2018's. Be VERY careful of the used cars from the south with regards to flooding and salvage. I know she doesn't go for the cross-over but go and drive a forester and an outback. My wife said the same thing and called it a station wagon. Then she drove it. She absolutely loves that thing.

 

That was my sister who i converted from Nissan to Mazda. One notch up in alphabetical order.

My wife is happy w the Benz not me.
My GF drives my Porsche

 

Here is my vote
https://m.ebay.com/itm/2009-Pontiac-G8-GT/223113988843?hash=item33f2a14aeb:g:bCUAAOSw6DhbdNf~

 

How about...

https://youtu.be/MvlCbYaF2RE

 

That's Heaven on earth. Baller I know used to have houses in FL. Now I know why they are buying 2nd homes in CO.