What to buy?

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Currently I am still undecided between a Kia Sorrento, Ford Explorer or Chevrolet Traverse.  I find it hard to research cars online as most of them have a lot of negative comments no matter what vehicle you look at.  It is similar to a lot of products, people are only looking online about their car if they have problems so most of the reviews end up negative.  This is one of the reasons I love Amazon they do a terrific job of getting feedback.

Anyways, my taxes are finally done and I am expecting a nice size rebate check (few thousand) so I am going to put this towards my new vehicle so I can drop the payments down lower.  I plan on selling my current vehicle also after I get my next one.  The weather has been really crappy here lately (snowing) so it is hard to get into the mood to go test drive them.  Next weekend is looking good so I will have some more posts if I go out test driving.  One feature that my wife and me definitely want is a 3rd row seat that can fold up and down easily.  I think that is great for when we are taking the kids around and need the extra seating.  None of the Kia, Ford or Chevy have a ton of leg room in the 3rd row but that really does not matter to us as we don’t plan on hauling that many adults around in our car anyways.  Also, we definitely need AWD or a 4 wheel drive option, as we often have to travel in the middle of winter in crappy weather (Christmas) and other holidays and I wan’t something that will get us through whatever conditions we may face comfortably.  Obviously there is a certain point that a blizzard could be unsafe, I am not talking about that though.

Car Buying Resources

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The last few weeks I have been exploring my options for my car search.  I have found several good sources online for my search.

Last weekend I found this Kia Sorrento, I really love the value you get with their cars and the JD Power Kia Sorento rating for the car is not bad.  That is one thing that always makes me nervous about purchasing a car with a lot of electronic features.  It seems like there is a lot more that can go wrong with your vehicle and result in costly repair.  If you subscribe to consumer reports they provide cost estimates for vehicles and also provide a great wealth of information on your vehicle.

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This is the Sorento I went and test drove last weekend, it has been for sale since March 11th so I think I will have a good buying position if I decide to get it.  This was the best miles/price Kia Sorento I could find in my area without having to travel over an hour from my home.  Here is a good review of it online.

Beginning the process of buying a car online

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Over the coming weeks I am going to be buying a car online.  I thought I would detail the process on my blog.  I have never purchased a car that was in another state before or a long distance away.  Also I am looking to buy a used one as I think the value is a lot better and I have had good luck with my purchases in the past.  I know companies exist that you can get the car shipped to you for around $500 I believe.  I am still undecided if I will fly somewhere to look at the vehicle and drive it home or go with shipping.  By flying and driving I feel like I can at least do a final inspection to make sure everything on the vehicle looks as I expected as pictures can make vehicles or other things appear better then they actually are.  Personally I do not know anyone who has done this before so my first hand knowledge is pretty limited and I have a lot of learning and googling to do.

Currently I am in the market for a Ford Explorer or Chevrolet Traverse.  Last weekend I went to my local dealership and test drove both vehicles, I love the styling of the Explorer, but I am not a huge fan of the Microsoft Sync feature and have heard it does not work that well from others.  Also, I feel like I am paying extra to have that feature and I do not really care about it.  I would prefer to have the vehicle be either blue or black with under 15,000 miles, but would go up to 20,000.  I also would like it to have a V6 engine as I plan on purchasing a boat in the near future (small recreational) and would like the ability to pull it to nearby lakes.  In addition, I do not want leather as my dogs just scratch the heck out of it and it ends up looking like crap within a year or 2.  Unfortunately it seems like leather is practically a standard feature now and it is hard to find a vehicle without it now.  I also want the vehicle to be maintenance friendly as I plan on doing my own oil changes and caring for the vehicle as I got sick of wasting my time sitting at dealerships while it takes them 2 hours to change the oil on my vehicle when I had an appointment before hand.

Summary of what I am looking for:

  • Ford Explorer or Chevrolet Travers
  • Under 20,000 miles
  • V6 for pulling
  • non-leather
  • black or blue (blue preferred)

As I got through the process of my vehicle search, I will keep updating my blog.  Also, I am in Minnesota, so I am somewhat central to the rest of the United States and could book a one way plane ticket to most places for around $120 most likely.