The fords are pieces of junk. I’ve never towed a broken crv, only accidents. I’ve towed dozens and dozens of vues, escapes, and mariners in my day that were just terds and wouldn’t run/drive.
Get a crv, adapt to the interior and have a trouble free vehicle.
We went from a 12-13mpg Cadillac to the crv and saved about $250 on gas alone in a single month. And a similarly optioned/year crv was worth about the same as my Cadillac even though it was 40k more when new, unreal.
talked to the body shop and this thing is 99% likely to be totaled, new car search starts now
Ive been debating leasing a kia sorrento. Was just going to say fuck it and push my old mountaineer another year but the poor thing is beat, needs a ton of work and i dont feel like dumping $1500 into a 13 year old ford.
just my .02, but it sounds like your on the right track for whats your looking at
-crv and rav 4 are staples in the category your looking for. solid, reliable, and can do the job your looking to accomplish.
-DO NOT get a VUE “hybrid”… i use the " " because the hybrid part of the car is a unit called a starter generator. It’s an alternator on steroids, it doesn’t allow you to drive the car under electric power only, it just assists in taking off parasitic loss from the accessories which driving down the road. plus WHEN they do bad, they coat a small fortune.
-I would say to help make things a little easier for you, a lease might be a great option for you as well. Since you have a large chunk on money to put down you could get a brand new car for the next 3 years, and only have to come in with $2,500~ and still be at the payment range you want to be at. Then in 3 years if her needs change due to a job, or life, she could get into something that fits her needs better at that time.
-I would love to sell you a Tiguan, as it’s going to give you more of a car like drive compared to the other 2, but your budget knocks me out of the running. I have used ones right now but they are in the 20k range and a new one to lease will still be a little over 200 a month. But if you’d like to stop in and drive one just to compare to the others i would be happy to set something up for ya.
have fun car shopping!
I love my girls mariner. Would highly recommend.