I had really specific requirements on the car in terms of capability and price since I was moving to a rural area and my old car was a 14 year old Hyundai Accent with bad suspension. Didn’t want a truck or anything too large, but needed a car that could handle some off-road and country roads, and had around 7" or better clearance, and couldn’t have a dual clutch transmission (either traditional or CVT with no dual only). Basically it came down to the Honda CRV, Kia Sportage, and Toyota RAV4.
CRV was my first choice, but its front bumper rides low, reducing it’s clearance below the frame height, it can’t even get over low objects. RAV4 was ideal, but like… $8k more expensive than the sportage, at the time the sportage was just under $24k new (crazy, since I was seeing used ones with up to 45k miles going for $27-28k).
So, I was sold on the Kia and just considered it kind of around my hourly rate. Even if it took all day, I was saving minimal $8k compared to my next best alternative and my hourly rate at the time for work was like $42. Even if the prices were the same, just factoring the 0% finance deal when my best pre-approved loan rate was 2.5% would save me well over $1k on the life of the loan, and around $400 in just the first year, so I figured it was totally worth a few hours of haggling and stalling on them.
When I moved I bought some nice all-terrain tires (Nitto Nomad Grapplers) for a few hundred bucks and it’s been solid. No complaints, decent performance, and I don’t get stuck in the mud at all. :)
I had really specific requirements on the car in terms of capability and price since I was moving to a rural area and my old car was a 14 year old Hyundai Accent with bad suspension. Didn’t want a truck or anything too large, but needed a car that could handle some off-road and country roads, and had around 7" or better clearance, and couldn’t have a dual clutch transmission (either traditional or CVT with no dual only). Basically it came down to the Honda CRV, Kia Sportage, and Toyota RAV4.
CRV was my first choice, but its front bumper rides low, reducing it’s clearance below the frame height, it can’t even get over low objects. RAV4 was ideal, but like… $8k more expensive than the sportage, at the time the sportage was just under $24k new (crazy, since I was seeing used ones with up to 45k miles going for $27-28k).
So, I was sold on the Kia and just considered it kind of around my hourly rate. Even if it took all day, I was saving minimal $8k compared to my next best alternative and my hourly rate at the time for work was like $42. Even if the prices were the same, just factoring the 0% finance deal when my best pre-approved loan rate was 2.5% would save me well over $1k on the life of the loan, and around $400 in just the first year, so I figured it was totally worth a few hours of haggling and stalling on them.
When I moved I bought some nice all-terrain tires (Nitto Nomad Grapplers) for a few hundred bucks and it’s been solid. No complaints, decent performance, and I don’t get stuck in the mud at all. :)