JAW3336 said:
knoxtom said:
Looking at your list and what you drive right now... along with other's recommendations, here are my thoughts.
The Lexus and BMW x7 are really really good. Far beyond anything else you listed. The BMW is the nicest and best driving but it costs a lot annually to drive an x7. The Lexus is a completely safe bet. It just does everything so dang well. Get the Genesis if you don't want the spend on the BMW and just don't like the Lexus (which won't happen) The Genesis is great, but not on the same level as the BMW and Lexus. The engine has tons of power on paper but isn't as smooth. The transmission just doesn't pop like a BMW or Lexus. The chassis isn't even close. Again, great car... but not in their league.
Skip the Infiniti and Nissan. They are huge. That ends their list of good stuff.
Other people rec's.
A Pallisade, Hyundai, and Mazda are not in the same league as the others. They are buzzy little cars and aren't even close to the drive of the others.
Acura MDX. They are REALLY good cars. Little bit small but they are great for everything you list. I would never own one myself because they are crazy boring. I don't know why, but everything about the Acura MDX is just boring.
Don't get an Enclave. They do not do a single thing well and lose so much value when you buy them.
The 4runner makes no sense in any way shape or form for you. It is uncomfortable, bad road manners, bad fuel economy, really aren't that reliable, really aren't that good off road. They have the best resale value of anything made and that is the only thing they do well. And for those who say that resale value proves they are good, second on that list is the Jeep Wrangler, which everyone knows also does nothing well except that is actually does well off road.
Last thing... based on your list I think you should look at the BMW X5 hybrid. It is the second best driving car I tried all last year. Just an incredible ride. Only thing I drove in the last couple years that I loved more was the Defender 110 v8. But you aren't staying under 100k in that beast and it makes zero sense in Texas (I assume you live in Texas).
This is a great breakdown.
Fine. I will break down a Buick Enclave.
The Enclave is what you get when you have an absolute turd of a car and you need to find a way to sell it. Handling is terrible... absolutely 100% terrible. The engine is a crap small engine with an oversized turbo to compensate. Unfortunately that means you have to listen to that turbo overspinning all the time. And more importantly, since that turbo is overworking, they burn up. GM attempts to compensate with an overshifting transmission that spins up and again, makes tons of noise.
So since the car has an aging chassis, an aging overworked engine, and an aging transmission how do they sell them?
Simple... put on every stupid accessory and "feature" they can imagine. Put in a ridiculous oversized screen. Put in heated everything and cooled everything and little motors, and little gadgets, and of course it needs at least 17 cupholders, and add window screens, and add extra stuff all over the place.
The reason GM sucks as a car company is because they never update their engines, they never update their transmissions, and they never update their chassis. They just add more crap to the car and hope people get all excited about the number of cupholders. The Enclave is the epitome of this philosophy.
They absolutely 100% cannot go offroad
They absolutely 100% are unreliable
They absolutely 100% overwork their engines
They absolutely 100% handle like a bowl of wet dog pudding
The Enclave is a 30k car with 40K of crap added. OP is asking which 80k to 100k car to buy and this is what you recommend? He is asking about an x7 or Lexus GX. He is not going to want an Enclave.
So there is the breakdown of the Buick Enclave..
