I can relate. My budget allows up to $800/month, which allows me to get just about anything I want. If you’d told me I’d be in this position 5+ years ago while I was in college, I’d be pretty jealous of my future self. But here we are and no one really makes the car I want, and on top of that, I feel like there is a compromise no matter the vehicle.
Part of me says “live it up, get as much car as you can”, part of me says “what the &$!# do you think you’re doing throwing $28,000+ out the window” and part of me says “how did I get so picky and spoiled…”
Choices get even harder to make, if you throw in IIHS safety data, including rollover ratings. Mercedes GLE has the best ratings for roof strength, GLC is pretty good. Lexus and X3 are mediocre at best. MDX rates well.
The Escalade is consistently one of the least reliable vehicles made, and grossly overpriced. The XT5 has more plastic than an Orange County housewife… I loved my ATS 3.6, but the value plummeted faster than an elevator with broken cables. I can’t imagine ever getting another Cadi.
It is somewhat of a relief to see others in a similar position. I’ve got 3 kids in car seats and need to have the ability to do pick-up/droop-off twice a week.
Have you considered the Q7? I’m not in love with the 2.0 and feel that the 3.0 is expensive for what you get but curious to hear what others think.
Here are the ones I’ve looked at/considering:
Audi Q7
LR Discovery HSE
BMW X5 (I like the style)
I looked into a Q7 last summer, and went with a Highlander. 1/3rd less payment on the monthly and felt just as luxurious in the cabin to me. I also didn’t love the rather bland design of the exterior.
Just an update… It looks like I may be settling for a QX60. Premium and Premium Plus with 20’s MSRP of $52,310. First month and registration DAS, $1108 in MSD (3) for $390 a month including taxes with 12K annual.
All of the Land Rover dealers I’ve connected with do not want to play ball. Consistently marking up the MF and inflating profits. When I call them on it, they stop communicating or just say “this is how we make money”… And, I’m not playing that game. Was working a great deal on a Velar P380S which without the markup money factor should be $635 a month on a $70K MSRP (loaner/demo) but they’re marking up the MF by .00100.
It’s just so frustrating… So, I may just get the QX60 deal I’ve had in my back pocket and deal with the dated tech. It does drive great, and has a fantastic stereo. My Highlander lease is up in 23 months, so I can give the Infiniti to my wife and get something new 2 years from now…
I hand wash and wax, and will likely use a ceramic coating (or something like F1) so I hopefully won’t have too much of an issue… For me, it’s less about the exterior color than the interior. I want wheat or java, just not black. Hard to find anything but black on what’s left in the inventory around here.
If I had a family and stuff to haul around and I didn’t need 7 seats - I’d be looking at the V90CC and Audi A4 Allroad. Both good looking wagons IMO. I’m sure both lease horribly though.
My JX had Java and it was odd at first but grew to love love it, it was quite different…
But the contrast between the wheat and the black trimming is awful… it looks even more dated.
I just got my QX60 black on black, and it looks fabulous First black car and I know it gets dirty by looking at it, but the contrast with the excessive chrome trimmings makes the car really stand out. I love it, though I got it on 24 months due to the dated tech and previous ownership of the JX.
The driver’s assistance package is well worth it and a must, i’d expand my search radius, the auto-dimming mirrors and blind spot are essentials i never knew i needed until i had them…the collision prevention and active cruise control are just extras.
I hate black interior. It’s so monotonous. Black, everywhere… lol. Dash, seats, floors, you can’t get away from it. With the wheat interior, there’s contrast between floor, seats, doors, dash, etc… To me, it looks more luxurious.
I realized last night, that the Prem and Prem + packs don’t include ventilated seats… ugh. I can’t go back to non-ventilated seats! 1st world problems for sure… but it is what it is. So now I’m waiting on pricing for a black with Deluxe Tech and if I can get it at $450 a month or near it, I’ll probably do it. I really like the pano roof too… but $60 more per month for ventilated seats is a bit egregious imo. Of course it has much more than that, but it’s the only option I care about in the package.
Yeaup, ventilated seats + pano sunroof was what made me consider the Pathfinder, since both can be had for about $12,000 less…but nah
Residuals and lease cash dropped this month vs last month btw, not sure if it would make more sense to wait for next month’s numbers + added motivation to move 2018 units from dealers
Yeah, MF dropped accordingly as well so the RV drop is a wash. However, lease support may end for the 2018’s next month as the 2019’s have been on lots since early June. Not sure that’s a risk I want to take… What made you opt for the QX60 instead of the Pathfinder?
Yeah, there was a drop on MF but you could have still bought down the rate to .00005 with 8 MSDs from the higher June rate.
My experience at Nissan. I’m not a millionaire, but owning a BMWs and Infinitis for a while now has certainly “spoiled” me and raised my expectations for sales process and servicing. It probably doesn’t make a difference to other people since you only service it every six months, but it makes a difference for me in case something breaks or something, which the way I drive my cars, has been often for both brands. And also, i think the QX60 has a lot more curb appeal both inside and out.
