Today the wife & I went to Las Vegas & bought her a new car. She commutes 100 miles a day round trip for work on a remote rural highway. Winter brings snow & ice. She has been driving the 99 Crown Vic P71. It has worked great for two years but An AWD Crossover was what I wanted to see her in & she wanted.
So today for Christmas we bought a 2016 Kia Sportage EX AWD. What a nice car. Got to test it out coming home. We hit a snow storm that was a whiteout with about 3" of snow & ice on the highway little visibility. I see why the Sportage is rated top in snow & ice travel. The car handled like it was on dry pavement. It just stuck to the road.
Haven't bought a new car in years. Been driving used stuff. But she works as a Special Ed Teacher & makes good money so if she wants a new car so be it.

 

Congrats, should give you both piece of mind knowing you she has reliable transportation.

 

Ken, they were open the day before. We bought it on the 24th. The dealership we bought from is closed on major holidays & every Sunday.

 

Thanks John. I like buying used & cheap. But with getting older & facing a shoulder replacement & both knees being replaced this year. I don't want to worry about possible car issues.

We bought the Kia because, one I know the owner of the dealership. He owns a Mazda dealership also & use to own a Volvo & Ford dealership. The Kia is top rated in snow & off-road in its class. We looked at the Excape & CRV Honda. The Kia has nice ground clearance. The down side is it gets the worst gas mileage in class. We got 23.7 mpg coming home 200 miles @ 75-80 mph with wind & all up hill. I figure 25 mpg will be about it but the off-road & snow capabilities were more important to us than gas mileage. These get 19-25 mpg 22mpg overall, where the Honda gets 24-31 mpg I think the Honda was 27 mpg overall.
Anyway haven't bought a new vehicle since 04. It a comfort to have a new car that is AWD. We have 4x4 trucks but she has issues getting in & out of them easy. She really likes the SUVs/Crossovers. There is plenty of room for her stuff out of the weather.

#ad

 

We haven't bought a new vehicle since 2004 it was a Chevy Trailblazer LS 4x4. After that one we would never buy a new GM product ever. The last new Ford was in 1995 a Mustang GT. I have bought 5 new Fords. I wouldn't have a problem buying a Ford again. I like the Escape but the closest Ford dealer is in California & they had a very limited selection. The next closest Ford dealers were Reno or Las Vegas. I have had bad dealings with the Reno dealer & a few of the Las Vegas Dealers. So that played a big part in why an Escape AWD isn't in our driveway.

 

I know people that have the Sportage and it has served them all well. My Niece has some other Kia and has ran the piss out of it with little attention to maintenance. Over 100,000 miles and it still lives.

Congrats...

 

Kias are great cars if you plan to put a lot of miles on them.