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| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana  |
I've never bought a new car before and I'm looking at the Costco program. Has anyone here bought a new car through Costco? What was your experience like? Is it better than just haggling at a local dealer on your own? We apparently don't have any Costco-approved dealers in our area for the cars we are interested in (Toyota RAV4 hybrid, Subaru Forester). So we can go to one 5 hours away, or one ten hours away. Which maybe eliminates the advantages of goingg through Costco. I used to own a Forester but got rid of it because I didn't want to deal with the leaky head gasket. I'm hoping the newer ones have eliminated that issue. We plan to own this car the rest of our lives. The RAV4 rental I drove ten years ago was super nice but I'm sure they've changed a lot since then. Of major importance for me is an ergonomic, comforatable front seat. Which is why I am staying away from Honda. Suggestions?
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
I find Honda seats to be more comfortable than Toyota seats. Different strokes for different folks. It's very, very hard to buy a brand new car that is economical and in high demand these days. Inventory is very limited. You have to either (1) take what you can get, which may not be the equipment options that you want, or (2) buy slightly used. We just bought a Honda Pilot with a few thousand miles on it because there really wasn't any new car stock in what we were looking to buy. (And don't trust dealer websites, because they will say they have certain vehicles in stock that are not actually in stock. They will blame the manufacturer for the disconnect. You have to go back to the Dark Ages and visit in person or call them on the phone.) | |||
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
The last Honda cars I drove were an Element when they first came out and a contemporary CRV. The seats in the CRV were uncomfortable. The seats in the Element were horrible, as was the ride. That was a long time ago. I bought an 8 year old Mercedes instead. But my next choice was a RAV4. I have driven several Subarus including several Foresters from a brand new one a few years ago to the service loaner from a Subie shop that had over 300,000 miles. I’ve never had a complaint about Subaru seats. Check the Subie message boards to see if they’ve corrected the head gasket problem. I have heard from many sources that the H6 engines don’t suffer it. Mine is an H6. While you are researching problems, see if Toyota has fixed the “sludging” issue. I’ve heard it can be prevented by pulling the oil pan every 100,000 miles and thoroughly cleaning it out.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
If you want to buy a car through Costco and there’s one in the Seattle area, I’d be happy to pick you up at the airport and take you to the car. We even have a spare bedroom now if it needs to be an overnight trip.
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Beatification Candidate |
I checked with the Costco program before I bought our last two cars. If you don't mind haggling, you should be able to match or beat the deal they offer. I think the big draw is for folks that just want a price without the haggling??
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
You don’t mention Mazda but it might be worth a look. They recently passed Toyota and Honda as the most reliable cars in the country. Ours has been bulletproof and I find the seats to be comfy enough. They just introduced a back country version of the CX-5 (which is about the size of a Rav 4) that might interest you. They’re calling it a CX-50. That said, I’d wait until next year if at all possible. Manufacturers are able to get chips again and we may well see a whole lot of ‘22 models hit the lots at the same they’ll be trying to sell ‘23’s. Better pricing and even rebates would not surprise me as this plays out.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Subaru dropped from my consideration when they continued to sell cars with the same bad engines for years after the problems came to light. Have those problems been fixed? Who knows. I certainly wouldn’t trust them to tell me if they haven’t.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
From what I’ve read the last year for the sludging issue was 2007. Toyota extended the warranties for 8 years on the engines that were affected.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
We've owned several Toyotas and Hondas over the years. Multiple cars and models from the 1980s through the early 2000s. Over that time span the characteristics and performance by manufacturer were remarkably consistent. As far as seat comfort, I also prefer Toyota over Honda. Generally I found Honda seats to be kind of flat and hard, and Toyota seats were more contoured and fit my body better. They were both good mechanically, but we thought the Toyotas were generally more reliable. We seemed to have to do more brake and transmission work on the Hondas; that's based on the two Hondas we owned and the two that my Mom had. And three Toyotas/Lexus. We have a 2016 Subaru Outback now, our first Subie. I find the seats to be very comfortable and supportive. I like the handling a lot. It's much tighter and more responsive than the Toyotas we've owned, but not as stiff as Hondas can be. The Hondas handle like race cars but for long trips I really preferred the Toyotas. We were looking at the Forester initially but ended up with the Outback after test driving them both. The seats in the Outback were more comfy, including in the back. We found the interior finishes to be nicer in the Outback and we thought there was much less road noise than in the Forester. Can't speak to the engine issue. We were putting all our miles on our old (2003) Toyota Sienna minivan, so our six year old Subie only has 11K miles on it. And I echo Steve's suggestion to wait if possible.
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Minor Deity |
Check out Nissans if comfort on long trips is important. They have what is called 'Zero Gravity Seats'. Now what exactly that is, I cannot say, but I drove a Murano to Madison WI and back for three weeks and found that I could drive five straight hours without a stiff back at all. So I bought one. Love it. The Rogues have them as well, as do Pathfinders.
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| Shut up and play your guitar! Minor Deity  |
We leased a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek and it is very nice. The software leaves a lot to be desired. It has BT and USB but it only functions well when the phone is plugged in vis USB. Even then it is buggy. Not a fan. We are taking it to PA in a few weeks (~9.5 hours one way) then to State College PA (another 2 hours) then straight home for a 12 hour drive. I can usually go 14-16 hours in the Mercedes 2015 E350 Wagon, I have yet to drive the Subaru on a long trip. My daughters just took it to Florida and said it was fine but near impossible to sleep in. We might brave a cross-country trip in it to Vegas and CA this November. And yeah, wait if possible. The market is still crazy. | |||
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Beatification Candidate |
We have a 2017 Forester that we bought new. We started out with the Costco program but the dealer didn't have exactly what we wanted when we went to look and so we waited until a vehicle came in with the particular features we desired (manual transmission, moon roof) came into the dealer. It's very comfortable, even on long trips, and has been generally reliable except for some AC problems that have hopefully been remedied. It has about 60K miles on it now. I also had a 2016 Mazda 3 that I really liked but sold it to one of my sons a month ago because my present condition does not allow driving and may not permit it in the future. As my wife and I are both retired, we have less need for two vehicles on a regular basis anyhow. Big Al
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Went to see a RAV4 Hybrid after telling a saleslady what I wanted. She sent me a picture of a blue one. When I got there the color was "Blueprint". It was black. Blue was supposed to show in some light. Drove it. Liked it. Never saw a flicker of blue. Asked about silver or other color maybe. She was going to watch for one. After a few weeks I told her to forget it. When Biden signed the Inflation bill, the tax credits ended. Battery requirements for the new models are more strict. Saw news of battery fires requiring 30,000 gallons of water. Looked at Subaru gas models. Also hard to find. When I asked the price the salesman sent me a copy of the window sticker. Waiting to see what the new model year will bring.
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Minor Deity |
I buy cars in the least exciting way.. Same Toyota dealer, same salesman (7 cars now?). I go online to look at used inventory, pick a few and email him to have them ready for me to test drive. I bring my check book, get the car that day or the day after. My 2015 Prius bought (used) in 2017 is doing great. My last brand new car was 2001..a lemon. 
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Minor Deity |
I've always found slightly used cars to be great deals because of saving on the depreciation. Most still have the authentic new car smell! And as Pique has always pointed out, the Auto issue of consumer Reports has been a really great help to identify weak spots in every year's model. Often referring to it on interesting models and manufacturers, I've asked dealerships about specific problems in a model they were offering, and they've seemed surprised (and as a result, especially honest in admitting such offerings' in those lightly used cars.) Also, Consumer Reports has helped me avoid particular years' drawbacks, often by identifying new re-designed models whose second year corrected problems that only showed up in the first years' trial runs. Win-win.
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