new highlander
Hi everyone,
Just like the previous post.
My wife and I just bought the blue metallic Highlander Limited.
We looked at the Nissan Murano and the Mitsubishi Endeavor. Didnt really like the test drive. Also looked at the Honda Pilot and was not as impressed as I was a few years back. We liked the interior of the Highlander a lot better and the drive was a lot quieter.
The main competitor was the Ford Freestyle. I think Ford has come a long way from the horrible interior design of the Ford Explorer (we have now had two of these). The Freestyle has some features that we really liked: tri climate control, rear sensing, and memory for seat positions. All of which the Highlander does not have. That said, the ride is loud, the inside is still not comparable to the Highlander. It also tows less than the Highlander. Surprisingly, the Freestyle is heavier and comes with the volvo constant variable transmission (CVT). My wife liked the CVT, I didnt. The decision came down to this. Our previous two explorers had been in and out of the shop regularly. Our lexus GS300 has not. We are buying a car because the Ford dealor has said they dont know how to fix the problems our current explorer is having. I didnt want to buy another ford and have this problem at 100,000mi again. The freestyle is new and is likely to be problematic.
Also... contrary to most reports the Toyota dealer was willing to negotiate. We spent 1.5hours at the Ford dealer negotiating the same price when another Ford dealer offered more options for the same price.
We really did like the people in the Ford repair. They treated us well and did fix a lot at their cost. But listen to what I just wrote and you will realize why we bought Toyota.
-Greg
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