Wife Car Buying Advice: Highlander vs Suburban

[911SauCy]

I'm stumped...must ask PPOT. Likely, man's greatest resource



Situation:

Wife has '12 Toyota Highlander, great overall condition
Wife has wanted a Suburban since we purchased the Highlander (out of the price range)
My DD is currently laid up, Father in Law is letting us borrow his '14 Suburban, 19k miles in like new shape. Wife is driving it everyday and is in love...
I passively tell father in law she likes it, he offers it to me for $12k under current retail value.
Also offers to finance the remainder for us....

Reason for considering:

Highlander has 63k on the clock, inside the last month it's needed a keyless re-learn (fob just stopped working (not dead battery)), water pump, drive-shaft (center carrier bearing and cv joint just came apart) and the RF strut has been shot for the last 12k miles causing bouncing at highway speeds (I'll be replacing this weekend as the stealer wanted $800). This degradation is disconcerting considering the wife is very easy on this grocery getter. She's a great care taker of vehicles.

We bought a Toyota on the premise of reliability... Not to mention how dad-gum pricey these parts are. The drive-train warranty saved us from a $2750 bill...

Pragmatic me says:

We don't have a payment and don't need a payment. ($10K differential to cover)
The Toyota drive-train warranty is until 100k.
The Highlander does the job.
We'll want to be out of the Highlander within 2 years
It will only depreciate about $7k further
The equity we'd be buying would be gone with depreciation inside 2.5/3yrs

Opportunistic me says:

It is what the wife wants.
It can be very useful in place of a truck and has a towing package (I have a 15' Whaler to tow around-Highlander needs tow-hitch installed if it stays)
Gas mileage is a wash or will be better with the Suburban

WWPPOTD?

(What Would Pelican Parts Off Topic Do!?)

-Sauce-

[impactbumper]

drop the Toyota, take the Suburban

[Dantilla]

Full-size trucks and SUVs are the one category where the Japanese manufacturers have not been able to build a better vehicle than the US car companies.

But more importantly, I bought my wife what she wanted.

Looks like according to my reasoning, the score is 2-0.

[Dantilla]

On the other hand, I refuse to make any car payments whatsoever.

Let's revise that to 2-1.

[vash]

screw that.

car payments suck. even 0% interest ones. i vote drive the toyota..and save the cash.
a WANT never trumps a NEED.

[vash]

Originally Posted by vash

screw that.

car payments suck. even 0% interest ones. i vote drive the toyota..and save the cash.
a WANT never trumps a NEED.

who the hell hacked my account? #$!#!

..seriously..the adult version of me says to stay with the toyota.

[Arizona_928]

Make the wife happy.... If you let it go, I bet she won't. especially when it's her dad that's offering it up on a platter...

[SiberianDVM]

It is what the wife wants.

You have your answer right there.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by SiberianDVM

It is what the wife wants.

You have your answer right there.

Yep. And add the post above that as a yep.

[berettafan]

my '13 Suburban kicked a bunch of error codes the other day. went to some sort of low power mode (felt like 4 Lo or a slipping first gear) with a bang into 2nd for a while. Codes indicate communications problem with TCM and PCM.

next day the codes are gone, driving fine again.

ran onstar check, all is good. called dealer...'if no check engine light we won't find anything'.

owned it since 12/31/15. put about 5k on it so far.

drove my '06 Tundra for 10 years and 120k miles. I think one time I started it and the radio was on a different sound level than what I had left it.

LOVE the way my suburban drives (with a couple caveats) but it is not a Toyota.

looked at the sequiouoiuiououauaua but interior looks like an 84 tercel. no way i'm paying MORE than suburban money for a tercel interior.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by 911SauCy

I passively tell father in law she likes it, he offers it to me for $12k under current retail value.
Also offers to finance the remainder for us....

Very generous but also potential for problems. I'd buy it in a second if you can afford it outright or get a loan elsewhere but I don't think I'd take them up on financing if it were me.

[M.D. Holloway]

even if you had to throw $2000 a year at repairs (which is unlikely) it would still be cheaper then car payments...just say'n

[berettafan]

or that's how glad he is to have her out of the house and he wants to make darn sure she doesn't come back!!!

[berettafan]

oh and google 'AFM' before you buy the truck. private sale might impact warranty coverage.

[Steve Carlton]

Do you like sex?

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Do you like sex?

umm....I know most people are cool with this these days but shouldn't this be on a more liberal board? not to mention if either of your wives sees this...


to each his own but seems like a strange place to come out of the closet....

[Charles Freeborn]

Dude.... "wife loves it" .... what's so hard to understand? Ride the horse the direction it's going...

[recycled sixtie]

Fil offers the Suburban at $12k under retail. Am guessing that the amount to be paid to him would still be significant? If you don't have car payments I would not start now.

You need to sit down and talk to your wife. Would she be comfortable with your both taking on more debt? Or does she throw caution to the wind and say she wants the Suburban?

I say stay with the Highlander coz there is warranty left on it. It is still comparatively new. Wifey should not always get what she wants. I certainly don't in my relationship!

In addition the Burb is going to incur significant value decline in the next couple of years. There is no guarantee of it being 100% reliable either.

What are your hearts telling you?

[vash]

let me start another thread.

[pete3799]

I'd keep the Highlander.
Our 2001 now has 205K + on it and still going.
I've had to do all the wheel bearings ( a few of them several times), fix the auto heat (soldered in a new wire in the temp control), and replace one CV joint. The rest has been routine maintenance.