Looking at new car for the admiral

Just bought the wife a Range Rover Discovery 250, great tech with reasonable economy and performance for suburban driving. Too early to speak to reliability though.
happy with out Range Rover Evoque, her ride.
Been considering going electric for her car and looking closely at the Volvo XC40 Recharge.
 
I have had BMW X5 SUVs and Acura SUVs.

I loved driving the X5s, HATED owning them. They were in the shop so many times it was crazy. I probably will never buy one again as a result. Yeah, there is a warranty, but its the pain in the a$$ factor that drove me nuts. And I was stupid enough with the last one to hold on to it after the warranty expired. I figured that so many things had been fixed under warranty, that what could go wrong. Answer - all those same things again, and again, and again and anything else that had not been fixed before too.

Moved over to Acura and have a 2017 MDX now. Wife had a 2009 MDX for about 8 years. Oil changes and brakes only repairs needed. Same for my MDX in the 5 years I have owned it. My wife has a 2015 RDX. Pretty bare bones despite being the "top" model for the year. Its been very reliable. But I don't like how it drives. My sister bought a newer one (2020 I think?) and loved driving it, but it had a lot of issues and repairs. So they changed it out recently for a 2022 Genesis GV80. They love that one (for now). But that is a much larger beast than their RDX.

My wife would like to replace her RDX with a new MDX, so that is probably what we will do. My MDX will probably be replaced with an F150. I was going to do that earlier this year but decided to hold off till there is bargaining power with dealers again.

FYI, my MDX gets 25mpg on the highway driving about 60 to 75 mph. Better than my wife's older and smaller RDX.
 
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Well it doesnt look like you will be buying a BMW....but if you decide on the X3, let me know. I am the General Manager of a BMW dealership in Maryland. We ship cars all over the country all the time. I would love to help anyone on CSR.
 
So wife has a 2006 Lexus RX 330. It's her second RX, both white, she isn't into cars at all, typical Lexus, 150k miles and virtually no problems. I always thought we would keep buying Lexus's, we have had several, I currently have a 2004 LS430. All of our Lexus's have been pretty much trouble free and all have gone way over 100k miles - the LS is at 140k and the RX 145k. My old ES had 180k when I sold it to a friend and it now has over 200k still looks and runs great. So, we really should stick with what works and get another Lexus, but we really don't care much for the styling of the new one's - especially the SUV's. We probably will not get another one, at least for my wife - more than anything she wan'ts something different.
I know there are a lot of car guys here and probably people that own the ones we are looking at. Anything we get will either be new or < 3yrs old and certified pre-owned.

1. Audi Q5 - seems to be what wife likes most at this point. Maintenance and reliability is a concern. Have also heard about oil consumption problems that I am not sure are fixed in new models.

2. Volvo XC60 - We have had several Volvos (740,850,V70 Wagon, and 2 S60s) only minor problems with any of them - not trouble free like a Lexus, but all were good cars. Not sold on Volvo's new 4 cylinder engine that they put in everything now and am hearing about oil consumption issues with their engines also. Otherwise we like the look and styling of the XC60.

3. Acura RDX - Never had an Acura and only one Honda. I think this would be the most reliable of the 3, but not sure we like the styling over the Audi or Volvo.

4. BMW X3 - I had a 325e that was a really good car and other than the maintenance no problems to 150k. Naturally aspirated 6cylinder 5sp -- but they don't build them like that anymore. I hear maintenance nightmares - maybe hearsay, I just don't know.

If you have had any of these - newer models let me know what you think.

I can speak to the BMW's, we're on our 3rd round of them. The x series is great, but I would go for the 5 and not the 3. We currently have 2017's 535i and 440i hardtop convertible and absolutely love them. Totally great cars, service is a bit high but they don't really need much. My King Ranch needed a whole lot more attention @ ~50K miles, but these BMW's have been great as were are last set.

The only thing I can say about the numbers is the 3 series isn't the same as the 5 series as far as options go and that why I say the X5, I have a few friends that love there X5 and wouldn't trade it anything.
 
Well it doesnt look like you will be buying a BMW....but if you decide on the X3, let me know. I am the General Manager of a BMW dealership in Maryland. We ship cars all over the country all the time. I would love to help anyone on CSR.

I will definitely reach out if we go with a BMW - I like them myself used to have a 3 series - but am a little hesitant regarding repair and maintenance. We tried to buy a X5 prior to this last Lexus and had such a bad experience at Hendrick BMW we left went down the street and bought the Lexus that same day.
 
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Everyone's comments here are confirming what I already knew - or thought I knew. Luckily I have never had a car I would consider a lemon, sure some problems here and there, but nothing major. I really wish the new Lexus's blew us away and we would just get another one. Another option if we get one of the ones I consider suspect would be to lease it. Goes against my car buying MO, not interested in any kind of payment, but at least it would be under warranty and many include maintenance - then at the end of the lease it becomes someone else's problem.

I really would rather be looking at new boats!
 
A few things that I can remember (of the many) with the X3 .......

It had automatic wipers, which worked great for a while. One day it's not even raining and now the wipers are going full blast even though they are "off" The wife stops home in a panic. I figure, ok as a stop-gap I'll pull the wiper fuse. I look in the owners manual and there is no listing of the fuses like you'd expect ( protip: there is no useful infomation in a BMW owners manual ). Turns out there are 3 or 4 fuse boxes, and when I get to the last one, there is a folded up sheet of paper with icons (no text). I find what looks like the wipers (I guess) and that fuse is in the glovebox. Actually you open the glove box, reach way in the back and there is an access door. Open that, and reach way in for the fuses you have no hope of seeing :eek:
 
At 25k miles the X3 developed a noise when you make a sharp turn at low speeds like when you pull into the driveway. It sounded like a limited slip diff that gets bound up if you've ever heard that. I talked to BMW and the transfer case has "lifetime fluid" In this case "lifetime" is every 30k miles or so you need to change it. And you have to remove a crossmember and a bunch of other stuff to do it.
 
At 90k miles there was an electrical issue with the trans but BMW quoted me $22K to fix the issue on a car worth less than $10k. I asked them who would agree to that and they said they just replace not repair :eek:
 
At 50k miles the battery went and BMW wanted over a grand to replace it. They said a new battery had to be "programmed" into the system. I got a parts store battery for under $200 and it was fine.
 
One model that hasn't been mentioned is the Mercedes GLC 300. Over the years my wife has gone Honda -> Subaru -> Mercedes -> BMW -> back to Mercedes last month. I also had a couple BMW sedans and an Audi during that time (now Ford).

She really liked her old Mercedes GLK250 Bluetec, was so-so on the BMW X3 (although I thought it was fine), and is liking the new GLC 300 from what I can tell. Worth a look, perhaps.

I am receiving a new F150 any day now for the last three months!
 
Few years old but don't get this one.

 
I will definitely reach out if we go with a BMW - I like them myself used to have a 3 series - but am a little hesitant regarding repair and maintenance. We tried to buy a X5 prior to this last Lexus and had such a bad experience at Hendrick BMW we left went down the street and bought the Lexus that same day.

I would also speak with @ocgrant he has some experience with BMW's.
 
Just stick with Lexus. Just walk around the back to get in and you won't even see the front. Problem solved. The grill on Lexus has grown on me and it's not that bad.
Also maybe look at infiniti. I had 2 m45 sports. Great cars but lost both to idiots running into me. Second one had about 95k on it when it was totaled. Solid car.
Don't but the infiniti suv that is fwd. It's based on the Nissan pathfinder and has that stupid cvt transmission
 
Out with the old 230k miles…. In with the new….. just love these cars

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You are getting lots of good feedback about BMW. They are designed to be leased, driven, and returned. Like I said, fantastic to drive. But caveat emptor, and never own one after the warranty expires.

When we test drove the Lexus SUVs, I thought they were pretty nice, but a bit "cushy" and soft. The early ones were very boring in terms of shape/design. I know they are a lot better now and somewhat more sporty. I am not a fan of the huge grill. Maybe on an LFA? They have a great reliability though and I have not yet heard anyone that owned a Lexus complain that it was a POS.
 
You are getting lots of good feedback about BMW. They are designed to be leased, driven, and returned. Like I said, fantastic to drive. But caveat emptor, and never own one after the warranty expires.

When we test drove the Lexus SUVs, I thought they were pretty nice, but a bit "cushy" and soft. The early ones were very boring in terms of shape/design. I know they are a lot better now and somewhat more sporty. I am not a fan of the huge grill. Maybe on an LFA? They have a great reliability though and I have not yet heard anyone that owned a Lexus complain that it was a POS.
I have a Lexus ES350 company car and hate it. I won't call it a POS because I have had no issues and it has 200K on it but it is one of the most uncomfortable cars I have ever driven and the older electronics suck.
 
I have a Lexus ES350 company car and hate it. I won't call it a POS because I have had no issues and it has 200K on it but it is one of the most uncomfortable cars I have ever driven and the older electronics suck.
Geez tough crowd….. tough crowd.

what year was this pos ? How do you say it is uncomfortable?
 

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