Daily driver opinions

autox19

True Classic
Yup. Getting ready to be flooded with opinions. Looking for a daily driver opinions. Looking for less than 7k. My wife and my normal cycle got stopped. We usually got her a vehicle and once it was paid off it became mine and she got another. Well. We were 6 mo from that swap happening when hers got totalled. Bigger issue we just put 3500k worth of new transmission and other assorted fixes into it. So. Long and short, she got another vehicle and i didnt get a hand-me-down. I currently have a 2006 town and country with 230k. Runs pretty darn good. Has a brake issue i havent chased down since covid started as i have been driving the x instead. Anyway. Looking for opinions on what i should be looking at. We are in michigan and this will be driven in snow. Needs to last approx 5 years when driven 20k miles a year.

Odie
 
Get a Honda Pilot awd. At a price of $7k it will be high mileage, but still running. It goes in the snow and can easily an X on a car hauler.

I got my 2003 Pilot for $7500 in 2011. It had 181K on it, still rolling at 262k now. I have probably put $1500 into maintenance since I bought it.

Or... take the T&C to a shop for the brake issue and then drive it till it dies. :cool:
 
Get a Honda Pilot awd. At a price of $7k it will be high mileage, but still running. It goes in the snow and can easily an X on a car hauler.

I got my 2003 Pilot for $7500 in 2011. It had 181K on it, still rolling at 262k now. I have probably put $1500 into maintenance since I bought it.

Or... take the T&C to a shop for the brake issue and then drive it till it dies. :cool:
As the x is semi honda it would be fitting. Did think about a crv as i have a b20 from one waiting to be built into a b20 vtec this winter (will be replacing the b16 in the x if i dont go turbo) so i am familiar woth the motor.
The brakes i am 80 percenct sure is a caliper issue and i can replace it. I dont use shops often. I used it for the transmission because of the warranty and if there were issues i wanted it to be someone elses issue.
We gor a forester for my wife. I am also thinking about another one of those.

Odie
 
You should at least go drive a Pilot if you never have. Even at 181K, my 2003 was the nicest used car I had ever bought when it comes to features and durability. I was replacing my 1998 Ford E150 van and needed to replace the towing capability, so a small car wasn't going to do.

Car shopping is fun, but nerve wracking. I am already starting to look for my next vehicle. I told my wife I wanted to push the Pilot to 300,000 miles, so only a couple more years to go!!! WOOOHOOO!!! :)

Good luck Odie!
 
I have landed on the Honda Element as a good compromise vehicle. I bought two of them last fall for my kids but neither have gotten their licenses due to Covid (one is working on it now, the other is getting permit renewed in a week). When they take them over I intend to get an Element of my own with FWD and a manual transmission

In any case I have been driving one since last October and really have come to appreciate it. Roomy, excellent visibility, good cargo room, comfortable seats and it looks quite iconic. Both of ours are AWD and being post 2007 have front, side (seat, thorax) and side curtain airbags. So far so good. I bought each of mine for 3k with 160-180k miles on them. These are good for an easy 300k miles and so far is a pretty easy car to work on with reasonably priced part. K20A just like the CRV which is also another good choice.

Decent utility with the only big downside being the fuel economy of 20-22mpg, but given it is a large brick with AWD, it is understandable.

I think the Pilot is an excellent choice as well, V6, front or AWD and lots of room. An older Ridgeline would also be a good candidate. Both can tow an X1/9 :)

As for the Forester be careful of used ones, they have engines with an appetite for oil and a tendency to blow head gaskets.
 
My friend bought an Element when they first came out. He recently sold it with over 350K on it. Still ran fine.
 
I have landed on the Honda Element as a good compromise vehicle. I bought two of them last fall for my kids but neither have gotten their licenses due to Covid (one is working on it now, the other is getting permit renewed in a week). When they take them over I intend to get an Element of my own with FWD and a manual transmission

In any case I have been driving one since last October and really have come to appreciate it. Roomy, excellent visibility, good cargo room, comfortable seats and it looks quite iconic. Both of ours are AWD and being post 2007 have front, side (seat, thorax) and side curtain airbags. So far so good. I bought each of mine for 3k with 160-180k miles on them. These are good for an easy 300k miles and so far is a pretty easy car to work on with reasonably priced part. K20A just like the CRV which is also another good choice.

Decent utility with the only big downside being the fuel economy of 20-22mpg, but given it is a large brick with AWD, it is understandable.

I think the Pilot is an excellent choice as well, V6, front or AWD and lots of room. An older Ridgeline would also be a good candidate. Both can tow an X1/9 :)

As for the Forester be careful of used ones, they have engines with an appetite for oil and a tendency to blow head gaskets.
The forester we bought was a single owner and i know the service writer at the dealership he had all the oil changes done. This one slipped past the oil issue and original head gasket so far. He told me pretty much any one that kept them for more than 50k miles probably didnt have the oil issue as it is way too annoying.

Leaning towards honda. But not a fan of the box shape of the element.

Odie
 
The forester we bought was a single owner and i know the service writer at the dealership he had all the oil changes done. This one slipped past the oil issue and original head gasket so far. He told me pretty much any one that kept them for more than 50k miles probably didnt have the oil issue as it is way too annoying.

Leaning towards honda. But not a fan of the box shape of the element.

Odie
It is roomy and easy to see out of, things I value despite being small of stature and relatively not rotund...
 
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