Down to 3 choices, near luxury crossover
Wasn't planning on doing this until the summer when my lease was up, but I may have just totaled it so I'm gonna have to make up my mind pretty quick when/if the insurance check comes. Sorry in advance for the long post. Just about narrowed down to one of three choices. Looking to get a 2 row, midsize, near luxury crossover, new or very low mileage cpo (loaner fleet maybe), final price before ttl of 35-38k, North Texas area.
My top three are a 2016 Lexus NX w/ premium package plus a couple other extras that seem to be required around here; 2016 Nissan Murano Platinum; or 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited w/ lux 2 group. Truecar for all of these is right around 37-38 at the moment so pretty much right where I want to be, assuming that price is realistic, and I've found in stock examples of each one on dealer websites. My biggest hard and fast requirement is cooled seats, this is Texas after all. Beyond that, good lighting, comfy ride, and lots of tech. Don't particularly care about "driving experience" or whatever, I'll spend most of my time commuting (30 miles, 1 hour, each way), so I don't care how it feels in the corners as long as it'll get me up an on ramp. Reliability for 5-7 years is important too, I'll be buying instead of leasing this time. I don't plan on driving it's wheels off, but I'd like to not do this again for awhile.
I like the Lexus for the looks, and their reputation for reliability and holding their value but I worry that, being the smallest and cheapest Lexus, there may be some corners cut to hit the demographic (ie. I already know unless I go up another package level I get pleather instead of leather). Also I would prefer a little more room to stretch out, and cargo room is pretty limited.
I like the Nissan because of the size, it looks similar to the Lexus (both the nx and rx, with the highly stylized exterior, floating roofline, etc), comes with a lot of features, and gets very highly rated in the not quite luxury segment, reviews I've read suggest cross shopping with the RX and Acura RDX, dunno how apt that is. I'm also coming off of a Maxima, and an Altima before that, and have been mostly pleased but not super thrilled with their reliability, a few minor issues fixed under warranty.
And finally I like the jeep because it's big and comfy, the infotainment system gets great reviews, it competes well in the near luxury group, and my in-laws swear by them. But basically everyone except my in-laws mentions the terrible reliability of jeep, and the entire FCA umbrella as a whole, so that kind of scares me.
I've thought about the Acura RDX as well but the advance package puts it out of my price range I think, unless y'all know something truecar doesn't. German maintenance cost and longer term reliability scares me, and they don't seem to get down into my range without taking the bottom of the barrel models. Don't like the looks or gas mileage of the Infiniti QX50.
Any advice? Anything to help me make a decision, or anything else I should consider? Thanks in advance.
Posted Feb 21, 2016, 9:55 PM UTC