Help me pick! Need some guidance here as I’m afraid I’ve missed something.
Yet to test drive as I want to narrow down the list first and obtain input.
Need to factor in some space for a rear facing baby seat.
Panaromic sunroof is ideal.
360 camera is ideal.
Mainly used for city driving.
Ford Escape Vignale: nice engine, panaromic sunroof, adjustable/moveable rear seats. Decent boot.
Light steering, potential bumpy ride, some say seats are very uncomfortable but I guess thats subjective.
8 inch infortaintment touch screen…
Drive away $55kMazda CX-5 Akera 2.5 turbo: tiny sunroof, smaller boot and room for rear passengers, could be tight for the front passenger with a rear facing baby seat. 360 degrees camera.
Reading about thin paint issues?
Drive away $57kVW Elegane or R line: still reading of DSG issues? Seems to have everything I need though. Adjustable rear seats, decent boot size. Panaromic sunroof if optioned along with sound package.
Drive away $65-$67k (starting to reach luxury car prices).
Are there any other cars I should be looking at?
(The Subaru forester seems to be getting good reviews however the CVT is a turn off).
We were in the same boat as you. We were looking at something slightly bigger - Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-9, Hyundai Palisade and Santa Fe. In the end, we landed on Ford Everest. Why? For roughly the same amount of money, we had a full 4WD option. We won’t plan on doing a lot of 4WD driving but at least the option is there, we will do more beach with kids. Fixed price servicing and 5 year warranty. We also looked at Pajero Sport (no sunroof and tether straps location was useless), Isuzu MUX (no sunroof and 9 month wait) and Toyota Prado (had to buy $95k Kakadu for sunroof and 9 month wait). Mazda CX-9 was pretty close for us but no 3rd row air vents and expensive to service with 10K intervals. Good luck.