Help me buy a new SUV
03-16-09, 11:57 AM
#76
03-16-09, 12:02 PM
#77
DASH- not trying to be rude here but did you even read the parts I highlighted? He mentioned that within his extended family there is an MDX, Pilot and X5. The next line down he noted that HE is the owner of the X5. Did you miss that part?
I know the point you're trying to make with the "My mom's coworker's friend's son's baby sitter's baby daddy's momma's grocery clerk's vet has a BMW that blew up and cost him 10K to fix" but if the man says he owns the car then who are we to not believe him?
I know the point you're trying to make with the "My mom's coworker's friend's son's baby sitter's baby daddy's momma's grocery clerk's vet has a BMW that blew up and cost him 10K to fix" but if the man says he owns the car then who are we to not believe him?
03-16-09, 12:03 PM
#78
Lexus Test Driver
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Where's the $10,000 invoice for electrical problems. You may want to talk about oil separators, which I never alluded to. On the other hand I'm still waiting for that non-existant invoice
03-16-09, 12:06 PM
#79
10k is for engine failure due to oil starvation (oil separator)
electrical issues range from Cam angle sensors ($300), MAF, blown final stage transistors ($1k), aux electrical fan repairs (800-1k), window regulators
03-16-09, 12:07 PM
#80
03-16-09, 12:21 PM
#81
Lexus Champion
In Consumer Reports Used Car Ratings the X5 is rated pretty high for Engine Major, Engine Minor, Engine Cooling, Trans major, Trans Minor and Drive System. This is for model years '03-'08.
Where is the info on your X5?
03-16-09, 12:43 PM
#83
Pole Position
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Bash the Pilot all you want, but it serves its purpose. Does the CX-9 and Highlander employ real wood? The Pilot makes very good sense for certain people considering its features that the competition doesn't have. My wife and I needed a safe spot to have our son's car seat installed. What's w/ the removable middle seat in the 2nd row of the Highlander? The Pilot offered the best room and convenience. Please don't mention any European cars on here. My wife's SLK has had more problems than you can imagine and still exploring the lemon law route for it. With this experience, German cars are nothing but junk. Besides being overpriced, they may look the best in exterior and interior styling than any other maker in the market. When it comes to ownership satisfaction, styling has no purpose if the car can't be driven without any problems.
03-16-09, 01:01 PM
#86
Funny, I know and have spoken to a very large number of people with Accords, Oddyssey's, CL/TL pre 04 when they were supposed to have these bad trannies and I never heard of anyone with these failing tranny issues, still Honda did the right thing and extended the warranty to 100K for free replacement. My parents had/have a 99TL and 03CL and there is/was not a hint of anything wrong with the transmission. The TL had over 100K miles before it was sold with no problems and the CL has 70K with no problems. The strangest thing is while the vast majority of Hondas/Acuras with that transmission never have any kind of transmission issues the ones that say they do that I read about on the internet say they go through numerous transmissions one right after another which leads me to believe the mechanics that installed those transmissions are either doing it wrong or are just putting bad transmissions back in, some have said it was a certain batch of transmission that are defective and not the design itself. Even if a couple hundred or a few thousand transmissions are defective it will seem like alot if you read about all those cases on the internet but in reality it does not even make up 1% of those cars sold. The design of the transmission is not defective, I have driven several of these cars with well over 60-120K miles on them and have floored it and have been pretty rough on them without any kind of hint of slipping.
I didn't drive it back the first time so I can't say for sure.
03-16-09, 01:04 PM
#87
Lexus Fanatic
03-16-09, 01:12 PM
#88
Lexus Champion
03-16-09, 01:37 PM
#89
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
the v8 explorer i ended up getting is VERY quiet, although the ride is stiffer than i would like overall. but still, it's been a great vehicle thus far (3 years).
03-16-09, 01:37 PM
#90
Definitely appreciate all of the input so far. I read (skim) CR, Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road & Track, Automobile, etc., so I have a pretty good take on the kudos for technology, refinement and popularity these various models garner from the Mass Media's perspective. The nice thing about a forum of enthusiasts, however, is reading about their personal biases and experiences--I find this stuff highly valuable...
I won't completely ignore the "newly redesigned" Pilot just because it looks ugly (IMO) and the interior is "truckish" (again, IMO). But, if there are other options out there which, on average, will deliver sport/utility/refinement/value in an attractive package, then I'll certainly consider them first.
If I buy new, I will likely decide between the Highlander and CX-9. If I go used, I will probably look for a deal on an 07-08 MDX (I'm a big fan of the newer MDX's styiling--in/out--and I'm very impressed with the Honda/Acura NAV system).
I won't completely ignore the "newly redesigned" Pilot just because it looks ugly (IMO) and the interior is "truckish" (again, IMO). But, if there are other options out there which, on average, will deliver sport/utility/refinement/value in an attractive package, then I'll certainly consider them first.
If I buy new, I will likely decide between the Highlander and CX-9. If I go used, I will probably look for a deal on an 07-08 MDX (I'm a big fan of the newer MDX's styiling--in/out--and I'm very impressed with the Honda/Acura NAV system).