I’m 6’3", 215, broad shoulders, with a wrecked back. My #1 and #2 criteria while shopping for a car is comfy seats and ingress/egress.
I just test drove the Forester 2.5, Outback 2.5, and Ascent all back to back. Forester was the worst. I cut my drive short, I just knew it wasn’t for me. Go drive one, for whatever reason it feels very different from the Outback and it noticeably crappier inside. Seats are meh. Outback is the sweet spot, drove better than either the Forester or Ascent. Not sure if it gives off the right vibe for your rich clients, it’s a pretty workmanlike family/dog hauler. The Ascent has seats that are really neat looking but not any more comfortable than the Outback.
The Ascent looks better in person than the pictures, so it may cut the mustard with your clients. It’s brand new so the lease isn’t going to be friendly.
I also drove the 2019 RDX. Front seats are very comfy. The back seats are awful, my head touched the ceiling, so if you are picking up clients then look elsewhere. The dealer here is not budging from MSRP, and a lease would hit near $600.
Also just drove a 2018 XC60 T6. The screen-only controls are not that cool, but otherwise it’s a sweet ride. Unreal how nice the seats are. I could road trip all day in that car. If you can hack a lease on one you should consider Volvo.
I had a loaner X1 while my BMW was in the shop and the seats were terrible for long drives. The rest of the car was fine with the understanding that it is the cheapest BMW out there.
With any BMW the trick is getting the sport seats. Don’t settle for an X1 with the standard seats. Sport seats are only a $400 option- the problem might be finding a car with them. I believe they are standard on the M-Sport version but adding M-Sport will probably push you past the $400 a month price point. But if you are in LA there are a zillion X1’s out there and I’m sure you can find one.
When you look at the photos of a car the sport seats have the extending thigh cushion. If you see a break in the seat bottom the car has sport seats. Single part bottom regular ones.
If you like your stereo good look for the HK stereo upgrade. That might be harder to find on an X1 than sport seats though…
Any good BMW sales person can find you a car configured the way you want. There are hundreds of them in So. Cal. Might want to reach out to the BMW folks here on the site.
I had a '16 Grand Cherokee over the weekend (right after being in a Q50 for a few days) and drove it about 600 miles filled with camping gear. It was fantastic, except of course highway MPG could be a little better. Even still I averaged about 23 MPG going up and down serious mountain passes.
Mine was a super base trim though, and the seats were fabric. The fabric they used was nice enough and the seats so comfortable that I didn’t even care at all, and it was nice not getting roasted alive every time I sat down. It only had 10,000 miles on it though, so maybe the padding just wears out quickly or they changed the seats on the '17s? After a few hours it was only slightly uncomfortable but then I adjusted the lumbar and that helped a lot.
The ride was so smooth and the power was so effortless and seamless that I remember just grinning from ear to ear just driving down the street when I picked it up. And the radio? The sound is FANTASTIC, even on the base trim! It’s one of the few cars I’ve been in that I’ll probably miss driving for sure.
Now would I need something as big as a GC everyday? Probably not even close, and I could always rent one for like $50 or $60 a day for a weekend trip if I needed. This is why I’m having a hard time deciding what I really need out of a daily driver. Luxury of a BMW/Mercedes/Infiniti? Utility of a Jeep or Forester? Practicality and lower cost of a Sedan?
Yeah the seats are pretty small and hard, almost Chevy Bolt like. It’s a shame because most everything else is great including the iDrive which I thought I’d hate.
I’ve looked at tons of X1 inventory and it’s almost impossible to find one that has the “Sport Seats” as a standalone option. Same goes with the LED headlights. If they do have either of those they’re included in a $3k package like the M package or Premium package. Hell, it’s hard enough to find one that’s not jet black or alpine white.
An M Package X1 would probably be over $400/mo for sure, most of them have an MSRP around $46k. Also I think the M Package just looks dumb on the X1. There are some with a “special edition” package floating around which includes the sport seats and some other stuff at a much lower MSRP. I’ve only seen two so far though, and there’s no way I’ve found to search inventory for that package, I just happened to see them on the lot.
I think even the base stereo in the X1 is pretty good. I’m not sure if the X1 I drove had the HK or not, but usually they have HK badging on the speaker grills and I didn’t see any. I’m not sure if the HK is included in the convenience or premium package, because I don’t remember seeing any with a “Premium Audio” option or anything like that.
Which car did you take in for service that you thought the X1 felt cheapish by comparison? To me it feels pretty well made compared to say a 3 series, and leagues better than the Audi Q3.
I’ve been trying to drive a Forester for more than just around the block. The big issue is that the Subaru dealers near me have really shitty store hours, and there’s none within about an hour radius on Turo. Really I need to get one on the freeway and see how the noise is, what the ride is like, and how good/bad the CVT is. I drove an Impreza for a couple of days and it was pretty bad in terms of power and refinement with the 150hp engine and CVT.
I’ve ruled out the Ascent because I really don’t need something that big, plus it just came out and there’s probably no deals on them. I saw a Touring in the dealer though and agree it looks pretty nice.
I also agree that the Outback is the nicest inside, but I don’t like the way it drives, or the way it looks at all. It feels kind of like driving a bus to me. Also the style is just kind of bland. You could say the same about the Forester also I guess, but to me it looks much better.
The Forester suffers from lack of updates I think. Like why does the Legacy and Outback with almost the exact same headunit as the forester get an updated carplay headunit for 2018, and the forester is left to languish?
The touring trim is the only one that to me doesn’t feel really cheap inside, and it’s also the only one with a pretty good stereo system. It feels comfortable enough, though it also suffers from somewhat small seats. At least they are well padded though. It also has crazy good visibility.
Really the only reason I’ve considered the Forester or Subaru at all is they’re one of the more capable offroaders/softroaders that also works as a daily driver. Also they have really high owner satisfaction for some reason and good reliability if I decide to do a ton of miles and keep it right?
The backseats in whatever I get will probably never even be used except for storage and/or a bed for the dog.
I would consider a Volvo but there’s no way I’m getting the dealers around here under $450 on even an XC40, much less an XC60. It’s like they all live on the moon. It’s also another brand where there’s no dealers conveniently nearby, and none on Turo, so I haven’t looked at them as much as some other brands. Also I’ve never seen a deal posted here for anything remotely close to $400 on an XC60 so I haven’t bothered.
Funny you mention the Bolt because I tried a Bolt and the seats where the main thing I didn’t like about it.
OK- first thing is that what I posted before was wrong and apparently while sport seats are a $400 option they can only be added to a car with the “Convenience Tier” which is $2,500. So I might be wrong about you being able to get a decently equipped X1 under $400 a month. I really don’t like the way BMWNA has arranged these things in stupid tiers where adding sport seats or premium audio required another $3000+ in features.
My main car is a 328i GT. And it is a much nicer car than the X1 but configured like mine is you are looking at at least $20K more than the loaner X1 so that is not too surprising. I also had a first generation X1. The GT isn’t for you since you don’t need the back seat. The back seat of the 3GT is the main selling feature of the car.
Yeah, you see a ton of white and black because those are the “free” colors. The Alpine white is dull but it is the best for hiding the dirt. I also am not seeing many base cars- they all have stuff on them- so that the starting prices are closer to $39K than $33K.
If you didn’t see badging the stereo wasn’t HK. BMW base stereos tend to be at least decent here in the US. There are some upgrades you can do that are pretty easy to do if you end up unsatisfied.
If you think the X1 will work for you message @BMW_Dave, tell him what you have to have on the car and your price point and see if he can come up with something. I think there is someone from one of the Orange County dealers on here too. You might be hunting for a demo car though to get under $400 with the features you will want.
Yeah almost all of the X1s have convenience for $2500, because really who wants to spend that much on a BMW and not have a sunroof or Keyless Access?
I’ve been looking at maybe doing a loaner 328i GT, mainly because it’s way more roomy inside than a regular 3 series. I don’t care about the backseat too much, but I do love the extra headroom and huge hatchback cargo area it has. The style however I don’t know if I can get past. If I could get an incredible deal I’d consider one for sure. I don’t know if there are any around anymore though, it looks like it’s mostly 4 series GCs at this point.
I actually spoke with Dave already and he was really great, really the whole team over there were fantastic to deal with. We were right at $399 including tax on a nicely equipped X1 with $2500 in loyalty and incentives. Now that I have a better feel for what my needs are and that in reality I’ll never take an X1 offroad and I’d just rent something more capable if needed, I’d probably change up the options and get the S-drive version for sure. It just seemed kind of silly to spend so much on a BMW and only have a FWD car though.
The Passat came out initially as this really homely car but now with the updated grille and fascia, LED headlights and nicer wheels on upper trims, it’s one of the better looking midsize/full-size sedans out there IMO.
Also straddles that fine line between aspirational and ostentatious quite well. Reminds me of a contractor I knew who did high 5, low 6 figure renovations. His brand new F150 was easily triple the value of his used 5 series but people would apparently think he was ripping them off if he showed up in his BMW while never batting an eye at the truck.
PS: There’s an extra $1,000 rebate this week or something like that.
I do REALLY like the new Passat designs, the GT especially. I just happened to see one on the floor when going to look at the Tiguan. They’ve finally made them look just cool enough, and you can finally get a Passat with tech AND a decent design instead of one or the other.
Passat has always had terrible residual but generally lease pretty good. Also that new VW warranty takes away a lot of anxiety because any VW WILL need to go in for at least one or two major things a year for TSBs/Recalls. I have extensive experience with VW as a brand and it’s generally not all that great when something inevitably breaks. Things like loaner cars, etc totally depend on the dealer.
Just one problem with the Passat by my calculation: Wouldn’t the Q50 be better in almost every way for around the same or just a little more monthly? Seems like a Passat GT is around $300/mo. The only thing I can think of that the Passat would have over a Q50 would be the infotainment and possibly warranty?
BMW has kind of spoiled me for FWD cars. That was another thing I didn’t care for in the X1. I’m at the point where I’m hesitant to buy anything that isn’t RWD or AWD. Which is silly for the kind of driving I do these days but as you say silly to have a BMW that is FWD.
The 3GT is now kind of in between model years. 2018 production is done and there is going to be 2019 run but so far no official word whether they will come to the US. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t but you never know. I only see six cars left in So. Cal. Perhaps not a surprise that most of them appear to be at dealers not known for the best prices. I don’t think you’ll score a killer deal on a new one. You’d need a demo/loaner for that. And you’d have to beat them up on prices to make it work. Kind of unicorn hunting at this point. You’d have to wait to see if one is just stuck somewhere and snap it up when the 2019’s arrive.
I’m not a fan of poorly thought out dual screen infotainment setups and by all accounts that’s exactly what’s inside a Q50.
The other thing is, for most cars but especially for German cars, your best bet for reliability is towards the end of the model run. That’s when most of the issues are likely to have been worked out. That’s one of the main reasons I would look at the 2018 Passat rather than the all-new 2019 Jetta
Definitely agree on that last point. They also seem to only make the cool versions in the last year or two of production. Remember the W8 Passat? I think that was last time they actually redesigned it!
I lived with the Q50 for a few days and I just left the screens off. Really the bottom one is mainly only used to adjust the settings anyway. There’s physical buttons for enough things that it doesn’t matter if they’re on or not, and the radio info will display in the instrument cluster. I’m actually starting to prefer cars with small or no info screens at all so they don’t feel outdated in like a year.
The Passat has a way better info setup no doubt, but I’m not sure the Passat would be able to touch how comfortable Q50s ride is, or how nice the interior is, or how much better the overall dealer experience would be. I should probably drive one I guess.
I have owned a Stelvio TI sport for 3 months now, no issues so far. Best looking SUV out there in my opinion and probably the best handling. Pretty fast as well (0-60 in 5.4 seconds). This is my first Alfa Romeo, I was concerned about the FCA reputation so I leased it for two years. Sticker was a tad over 52k and got it for $0 down and $0 drive offs and $499 month including tax at Costa Mesa Alfa Romeo. The base model stickers around 45k, that can easily be had for under $400/month. The base model has a good amount of features. Would highly recommend.
Every time I get to thinking of giving Alpha a chance I see something to change my mind. Today it was when I was driving and saw some smoke coming from the oncoming traffic. As I got closer I realized it was an Alpha Giulia, and then, right at the moment I was passing by, as if some sort of sign from the gods, FLAMES start shooting out from under the hood. I shit you not.
I did drive the Stelvio briefly and it really impressed. It drives almost like a sports car, it’s that good. Really unique and good looking vehicle as well. $499 is just too much for me to swallow though. I really wish I could rent one for a few days at a reasonable price, but there’s only a handful of Giulias on Turo, no Stelvios. I might just rent a Giulia to get a feel for the brand and build quality.
I can only imagine the Giulia forums being filled with topics like “Do you carry your fire extinguisher in the front or back” and “what’s your favorite loaner car?”
Ok so I’m renting a Jeep GC limited now and completely agree. These seats just aren’t comfortable. Don’t know what it is, but the base fabric seats feel way more comfortable or they changed the seats in '17.
Glad you agree finally I knew I wasn’t crazy that it was bad, especially for a car close to 50K. Perhaps the summit is better but no way I’m spending another 10K for it.
I knew I wasn’t crazy that it was bad, especially for a car close to 50K. Perhaps the summit is better but no way I’m spending another 10K for it.