Since I sold my Pajero two weeks ago, the MU-X has become my day-to-day vehicle and SWMBO is looking at getting a car for herself. As much as she likes the MU-X, she wants something a bit smaller and zippier, but still high up with lots of room for our kids and all their crap.
She has driven a few and narrowed it down to:
- Ford Escape Trend 1.5 ecoboost 2WD -
https://www.ford.com.au/suv/escape/ - Hyundai Tucson Active X auto 2.0 2WD -
http://www.hyundai.com.au/cars/suvs/tucson - Kia Sportage Si Premium auto 2.0 2WD -
http://www.kia.com/au/cars/sportage.htmlRuled out:
- Rav4 - too dear, too bare
- CX5 - too dear, everyone's got one
- Tiguan - too dear (don't trust their DSG autos)
- Forester - too dear (don't like CVT autos)
- CRV - grandma's car.
These are at the "cheaper" end of the SUV market and can get them all for low-mid $30k's.
The Kia and the Ford have the most kit (rear aircon, dual zone climate, satnav and a few other things). The Ford has by far the strongest engine, but only a 3 year warranty (versus 5 for Hyundai and 7 for Kia), so we added an extended Ford factory warranty to it to bring up to 5yrs. They're all pretty much the same price.
I drove the Hyundai and Kia and thought they were nice enough, but were pretty gutless. The Ford 1.5 was a revelation with it's little ecoboost motor. So, anyway, all good we decided on the Escape and gave the leasing company the go ahead to get it happening....
Turns out the local Ford dealer who won the tender didn't have the colour we wanted in stock and there are literally none available anywhere and the next batch are not due til October! So, in classic
bait and switch style, the dealer found a 2.0 AWD model they had in the same colour and are doing a really good price to clear the stock. It's literally $1500 more than the 1.5 but comes with AWD, the 178kw/340nm motor and power tailgate and keyless entry. Seems too good to be true right? Right!
The only downside is that it's a 2016 build, Dec 2016 compliance. They're calling it a 2017, but it's a 2016 as far as I'm concerned. So, to my questions....
1. Should we stop worrying about the 2016 plate and grab a bargain?
2. Should we convince SWMBO to get a more boring colour in the cheaper 1.5 FWD.
3. Should we pay even more for a 2017 plate 2.0 (quote from leasing mob was $4.5k more)