Thinking about getting a new car. What to get...

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Moto
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OK kids, it may be time for me to get something more reliable and probably a little higher off the ground.

Long story short is that my current employer isn't great, and I'm hunting for new work. Unfortunately, my day job is in the field of geology and there isn't much available locally. I will likely end up working in the oil field soon.

The positive side is that I have the potential to make about twice as much as I do now in under a year. The negative side is that you live onsite and work 12 hour days. Probably about two weeks on one week off if your lucky. (Probably will be on longer as new drilling techniques are leading to less rig moving)

We're talking about North Dakota and Montana and they aren't exactly great about plowing the roads around here.

I'm thinking I might try to get a new or newish Subaru Forester (probably an XT), but I would be open to some other options.

If I go this route I basically need to find something that has ground clearance similar to a pickup, but I would like to avoid getting a pickup. (If you are lower than the pickups you will get hung-up).

The saabaru will probably hang for a little while, but it has about 120k miles on it and I will be driving in areas without any kind of support available. Potentially 1200 miles round trip. If any of you have driven through Montana/Western ND you know it isn't a place where you want to have car trouble.

So.... thoughts, suggestions, ideas?
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KuroNekko
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If you are looking into a CUV/small SUV then the Subaru Forester is pretty much the best there is. Just about every respectable auto publication has it ranked as the best small SUV. It's got the best safety, best reliability, standard AWD, and a manual offering. That combo is a winner to me.
I assume you'd go for the manual. The new Forester's auto is a CVT and the older ones from even just a few years ago had Subaru's archaic 4EAT (yeah, the same one found in my '95 Impreza!).

While I'd say the Forester is best, the other ones that interest me are the Mazda CX-5 and Mitsubishi Outlander (not the Outlander Sport) in that class. The RAV4 and CRV just seem boring. The rest are not as reliable nor that interesting.
The Subaru Outback is a solid choice as it offer wagon convenience yet the ground clearance of a SUV (I've read even higher than Forester). The new Impreza-based XV is out there too, but I hear it's very slow and dull to drive.

Personally, I'm drawn to real SUVs given my interests in offroading. CUVs are good for light offroading and foul weather, but you need the real deal when the going gets rough. I'm personally pretty fond of the Nissan Xterra Pro-4X, Toyota 4Runner, and Jeep Wrangler. Ladder on frame, full range 4x4, locking differentials, and skid plates means serious business on the trail. The major setback is the dismal fuel economy on these things. The Nissan and Toyota are reliable, but the Wrangler is not.
The Suzuki Grand Vitara offers these benefits at a lesser degree but much cheaper too. If you can get a really good deal, it may fit the bill nicely. They are surprisingly good offroaders due to their ladder-on-frame and full range 4x4.
I personally think the last generation of GVs looked rather good too. While they don't have the best fuel economy, they are just about the only small SUVs with real 4x4 cred, short of the Wrangler.

The new Jeep Grand Cherokee (and the Dodge Durango) is pretty sweet too. I've read only positive things on the new models and they look very nice now. 8 speed automatics in those. The new Cherokee looks promising too although it's too new to say about reliability. The Patriot, Liberty, and Compass are junk.

Overall, probably the best all-things-considered is a Subaru Forester (or Outback). Decent fuel economy with AWD and ground clearance. Not to mention top safety and reliability.
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Moto
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I owned a Jeep for about 6 months before I sold it (Never again). I did make money on it, but that thing was a POS. .... Edit. I might test drive the Jeep Cherokee. With all of the options that come on the Subaru you get the Jeep up to 38K, but it probably the better car for very poor conditions.

I had not considered the Nissan Xterra. The new 4 runners do not appear to be as off-road capable as they used to be.

I still need to go test drive a Forester, but I have a feeling that will be the route I go. They have about 8.7" of ground clearance (same as the Cherokee) which is nearly as good a most stock pickups. I think if I get a good set of snow tires I should be able to hang.

As you might expect I'm sort of shooting for reasonable mileage. I rarely need a pickup, and driving ability is just about as good as locking hubs for most road conditions. It isn't until the road is gone that locking hubs make a big difference.

I'm also somewhat familiar with the Subaru approach to engineering and working on things (assuming I decide to drive the car into the ground)

I expect the resale value will probably be better on subaru than the Jeep as well.

I'll probably be doing a few test drives over the next few weeks. I may report back here.

I should know Monday if I have a job offer from one of the places I was looking at.
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Wonson92
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My partner drives an 09 imprezza RS and its been nothing but terrible. Her parents have a '10 Liberty (I'm not sure if thats branded as something else in the US?) and its the same. Both have been back to the dealership endlessly for repairs - both cosmetic and mechanical. I have no experience with the forester but my assumptions aren't good. My parents had quite a few different Subarus over the years and i've always liked them but they'd have to make some serious changes for me to consider one now.

Jeep has really turned around since Fiat took control, my parents have one now and its been faultless for two years. I wouldn't be afraid to look in their direction. We have 5 year warranty + 3 yrs free servicing here at the moment with Jeep which is supposed to inspire confidence in their reliability now ;)
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SamirD
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Good luck with the new job! It sucks being stuck in a place you'd rather not be. Sucks the life out of you. Been there, done that.

I think the Forrester would be a good approach as it would also be decent on the highway since you have a long trek home. I haven't driven on myself, but have been a fan of them ever since I saw one that regularly autocrossed and kicked butt with the right driver. Not exactly the same reason you're looking at one, but I have the hunch that it should be decently good off-road as well as on.

If you're looking at older vehicles, the Lexus/Toyota land cruiser is definitely one of the best ever made. You see them in countries where the roads are much worse than what we normally run across in the US, and they tackle it with ease.

One that hasn't been mentioned is the Porsche Cayenne. Normally these are quite expensive, but the base v6 version isn't that much. A friend of mine picked one up with 100k on it with an additional 100k warranty for under $20k. And while they are mainly on road performance suvs, they have all the off-road capabilities and reatures of the Range Rover Sport they compete against. A good friend of mine who happens to be a Porsche technician told me about his experience when they did training on the car at the Atlanta facility, and it's definitely no joke of an off-road vehicle.
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KuroNekko
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SamirD wrote:Good luck with the new job! It sucks being stuck in a place you'd rather not be. Sucks the life out of you. Been there, done that.

I think the Forrester would be a good approach as it would also be decent on the highway since you have a long trek home. I haven't driven on myself, but have been a fan of them ever since I saw one that regularly autocrossed and kicked butt with the right driver. Not exactly the same reason you're looking at one, but I have the hunch that it should be decently good off-road as well as on.

If you're looking at older vehicles, the Lexus/Toyota land cruiser is definitely one of the best ever made. You see them in countries where the roads are much worse than what we normally run across in the US, and they tackle it with ease.

One that hasn't been mentioned is the Porsche Cayenne. Normally these are quite expensive, but the base v6 version isn't that much. A friend of mine picked one up with 100k on it with an additional 100k warranty for under $20k. And while they are mainly on road performance suvs, they have all the off-road capabilities and reatures of the Range Rover Sport they compete against. A good friend of mine who happens to be a Porsche technician told me about his experience when they did training on the car at the Atlanta facility, and it's definitely no joke of an off-road vehicle.
However, the Cayenne is unreliable. Their poor reliability brought down Porsche's overall reliability rating which is very good. Not too surprising given the Cayenne is more a VW than a Porsche. It's a VW Touareg on steriods. The only one that appeals to me is their diesel version.
A true Porsche needs two things: An engine that is located behind the driver and an engine that has pistons going sideways. The Cayenne and Panamera have neither and are mere cash flow products that VW made Porsche offer.

I agree about the Land Cruiser. Best SUV on Earth. These SUVs are trusted from the North Pole to the Sahara Desert and all the world around. Land Rovers don't hold a candle to their reliability and longevity. I'd take a Mercedes G350 diesel over a Landy.
Land Rovers are more mall crawlers driven by rich white women and athletes than true offroaders.
However, Toyota Land Cruisers are expensive. They start at near 60k and that's not even the Lexus version!
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Even if I get a forester I will be putting a few extras on it to make it look mean.
ie. something like bull bar with some extra highly functional lights and a big cargo rack with a full size spare locked to it. The eyesite system might even be cool for some things. I need to read how quickly you can turn it off.

This is the area I will be in... We'll just call it the west.
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If a guy showed up at a rig site with a Cayenne :facepalm:

I do like that the new forester XT does not "require" premium fuel. I'm sure it cuts you boost to under 6 PSI if you don't run premium, but that isn't a big deal if you are just on the highway. When it is cold it will probably run just fine on regular. Even my modified saabaru doesn't trip any knock sensors running regular when it is this cold. (Only thing available in my home town)
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KuroNekko wrote:However, the Cayenne is unreliable. Their poor reliability brought down Porsche's overall reliability rating which is very good. Not too surprising given the Cayenne is more a VW than a Porsche. It's a VW Touareg on steriods. The only one that appeals to me is their diesel version.
A true Porsche needs two things: An engine that is located behind the driver and an engine that has pistons going sideways. The Cayenne and Panamera have neither and are mere cash flow products that VW made Porsche offer.

I agree about the Land Cruiser. Best SUV on Earth. These SUVs are trusted from the North Pole to the Sahara Desert and all the world around. Land Rovers don't hold a candle to their reliability and longevity. I'd take a Mercedes G350 diesel over a Landy.
Land Rovers are more mall crawlers driven by rich white women and athletes than true offroaders.
However, Toyota Land Cruisers are expensive. They start at near 60k and that's not even the Lexus version!
I didn't realize the Cayenne was unreliable. I know they had some issues on the early ones, but all those bugs shook out pretty quick. True they carry a lot of the same characteristics of the VW cousin, but I still saw them as Porsche all the way around even though they didn't have a horizontally-opposed rear engine design.

The Panamera is no joke of a car. The turbo version can hold itself with the 911 (997) Turbo, and many people considering the 911 actually got the Panamera instead. Initially I hated the car as it looked like a 1990s Taurus from the rear, but it has grown on me.

Land Rovers have always had the quirks of British cars in general, so seeing them in more pedestrian roles isn't surprising. They still are capable off-road though.
Moto wrote:Even if I get a forester I will be putting a few extras on it to make it look mean.
ie. something like bull bar with some extra highly functional lights and a big cargo rack with a full size spare locked to it. The eyesite system might even be cool for some things. I need to read how quickly you can turn it off.

This is the area I will be in... We'll just call it the west.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bakken-O ... 0960810561

If a guy showed up at a rig site with a Cayenne :facepalm:

I do like that the new forester XT does not "require" premium fuel. I'm sure it cuts you boost to under 6 PSI if you don't run premium, but that isn't a big deal if you are just on the highway. When it is cold it will probably run just fine on regular. Even my modified saabaru doesn't trip any knock sensors running regular when it is this cold. (Only thing available in my home town)
A mean Forrester would be pretty cool. And I didn't think about a Cayenne at a rig site! It's like when some politician showed up in a Mercedes to rally Ford plant employees in the 1970s. He rallied them all right. I don't think they even let him in the door. :lol:

Most premium fuel cars are smart enough to retard timing and turn the power down to safe levels when the fuel isn't up to par. It's kind of nice since it really gives you the option to run what you like depending on what performance you want. Too bad our Kizashis weren't tuned that way--I wouldn't mind running higher octane fuel if there was some benefit.
Last edited by SamirD on Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
murcod
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Land Rovers are extremely capable off road in stock form. (In fact they're in a totally different class to the Forester.)

Moto, if you'll be traversing really rough roads then anything like a Forester mightn't last too long. When it comes down to it, they're origins are more FWD passenger vehicle than proper 4WD. Rough roads could kill one very quickly- any fuel savings could be over shadowed by repair costs.

The Land Rover / Cherokee etc are made to handle that stuff all day, every day.
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KuroNekko
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murcod wrote:Land Rovers are extremely capable off road in stock form. (In fact they're in a totally different class to the Forester.)

Moto, if you'll be traversing really rough roads then anything like a Forester mightn't last too long. When it comes down to it, they're origins are more FWD passenger vehicle than proper 4WD. Rough roads could kill one very quickly- any fuel savings could be over shadowed by repair costs.

The Land Rover / Cherokee etc are made to handle that stuff all day, every day.
I agree that most Landys and the Subaru Forester are in a totally different class.
Land Rovers like the LR3 and the Range Rover are very impressive offroad, but probably the very best and hardcore factory offroader is the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. That thing was designed to take on the notorious Rubicon trail in stock form.

However, I would say that the LR Evoque and even the LR2 are more comparable to the Forester in terms of class and ability, but not price. The LR2 is more offroad capable, but more expensive and less reliable than the Forester. The Evoque is a sell-out and really a mall-crawler. Victoria Beckham pushing it is all the proof I need.

While I agree that for constant offroad use a true SUV would be better, I doubt Moto will be on unpaved rough roads most of the time. In that case, a CUV would be much better for the smoother ride and better fuel economy. The Forester is the best of them.
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