Time to show off the new ride!

[Kompresshun]

So we finally decided to dump the Jeep last week.



It has served us well and has been one of the most reliable vehicles i've owned, but it drank fuel like there was no tomorrow and it was time to replace it with something that fit our needs better. So out with the old and in with the new:



Yes, I know it's not a Nissan either. Nissan couldn't offer a single thing that was worth our time to even just look at.

We drove a Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, and Chevy Equinox. We had pretty much decided on the RAV4 for the money, but we decided to make one last stop at the Kia dealer down the road. We test drove the Sportage and the Sorento, but we liked the Sorento better. After we located the model with the features we wanted, the Toyota was long forgotten.

We got the LX model with the 4cyl, UVO entertainment system, backup camera, heated seats, heated steering wheel, bluetooth, and some other crap I didn't really care about.

So all in all, i'm happy with the deal we got. They paid off the trade and took care of us pretty well. It was the best car buying experience i've had so far, so I would highly recommend them to someone else.

MOAR PICS

[float_6969]

It looks like an upgrade to me!

[dre1507]

I've driven them a few times at work. Seems like a decent vehicle and feels solid. Doesn't feel cheap like VW's, low end Audi's, or modern low end bmw's and benz's. To clarify, when I stepped on the gas in the Sorento, I didn't get that flimsy feeling I do with the others I listed.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Sportages are pretty decent looking. I particularly like the rear, with the strong d-pillar and clean liftgate with lots of glass.

It drives me nuts that even crossovers with more traditional rear glass have eschewed separately-opening glass for aesthetic purposes. I don't care how much better it looks, it's not enough to compensate for the loss of convenience from not being able to pop open the glass to toss a bag of groceries in the car. Toyota's SUVs get power-rolling backlights which can be operated remotely...still nowhere near as convenient as a quick latch and hinge, but better than nothing. Crossovers, though, get nothing. You know why nobody needed power-opening liftgates in 1993? Because the Explorers that everyone was buying had rear glass that popped open at the turn of a key.
I can understand not being able to open the Murano's kidney-bean shaped low-visibility joke of a backlight. But the Sorento's big ol pane should be hinged.

Also, low-rolling-resistance tires are silly and stupid. You're basically paying more for less. A crappy, rock-hard, cheap tire with minimal tread surface that would have been a budget all-season ten years ago is suddenly "efficient" and gets a markup. Nonense. They look funny, too, like '70s radials, with bulging sidewalls and narrow tread surface. Not suited to the look of modern cars, especially when mounted in (relatively) low-profile sizes. And the claims of fuel savings are generally on the order of hundreds of dollars over tens of thousands of miles. For smeg sake, a slight breeze can account for that miniscule variation. I'm irritated that they exist, more irritated that they're used as OEM by so many manufactureres, and even MORE irritated that CAFE has put car manufactureres in a position where they feel the need to use the damn things at all.

[Kompresshun]

The rear glass drives me nuts too, because that was something I was used to in the Heep. I like being able to pop the rear glass open to set a few bags in there, compared to opening the whole lift gate, but no dice on most vehicles in this segment. It does make up for it though with some really nice storage compartments and an easy to open liftgate. My only other major beef is that the rear window visibility is kind of mediocre compared to everything else i've owned. You can see out of it, but it doesn't give you a great view of what's behind you at lower heights. It has a backup camera and sensors though, so I guess that's their excuse for it.

I don't think this has low rolling resistance tires on it, I think it just has some standard all season tires. I haven't looked at them close enough to know yet, but they're Kuhmo's and they have a pretty nice tread pattern for stockers.

One thing I didn't do this time was buy AWD/4WD. It's FWD and the past two cars we've had have been 4x4, which we barely ever put to use. I was tempted to get it, just to have a center locking diff, but i'll never put it to use, so why waste the money?