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Let me first preface my 14 car list with what I thought I wanted in a vehicle really didn't fit me so what I was looking for/drawn to morphed along the way. My previous car I had for just over 6 years and the market is way different now.
I did research each one online before stepping foot in a dealership but found the driving experience to be paramount which is not something you can gather from an online research process. I don't find car review sites to be truly independent either so I didn't take too much to heart on opinions. Facts are another thing; but key items were AWD or 4WD, V6 or 4 with a turbo, quiet/comfort and reliable. And of course, aesthetics are super important.
So here we go...in order of test drive. You'll see a trend of trying out the small and mid-size versions.
1. Jeep Cherokee
2. Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited (thought I was done until I got scared away by reliability concerns)
3. Ford Escape
4. Ford Explorer
5. Toyota RAV4 (I didn't actually drive this one, just sat in it...to be fair)
6. Toyota 4Runner
7. Nissan Murano
8. Nissan Rogue
9. Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
10. BMW X3 (CPO)
11. BMW X5 (CPO)
12. Subaru Forester
13. Audi Q3
14. Audi Q5
My final two were between a 2013-2014 BMW X3 (CPO) or the Audi Q3. The Audi dealership I was at happened to have a 2013 BMW X3 and I could jump from one to the other. It was quickly obvious that the Q3 was it for me.
And now I'm officially embarrassed.....
I did research each one online before stepping foot in a dealership but found the driving experience to be paramount which is not something you can gather from an online research process. I don't find car review sites to be truly independent either so I didn't take too much to heart on opinions. Facts are another thing; but key items were AWD or 4WD, V6 or 4 with a turbo, quiet/comfort and reliable. And of course, aesthetics are super important.
So here we go...in order of test drive. You'll see a trend of trying out the small and mid-size versions.
1. Jeep Cherokee
2. Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited (thought I was done until I got scared away by reliability concerns)
3. Ford Escape
4. Ford Explorer
5. Toyota RAV4 (I didn't actually drive this one, just sat in it...to be fair)
6. Toyota 4Runner
7. Nissan Murano
8. Nissan Rogue
9. Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
10. BMW X3 (CPO)
11. BMW X5 (CPO)
12. Subaru Forester
13. Audi Q3
14. Audi Q5
My final two were between a 2013-2014 BMW X3 (CPO) or the Audi Q3. The Audi dealership I was at happened to have a 2013 BMW X3 and I could jump from one to the other. It was quickly obvious that the Q3 was it for me.
And now I'm officially embarrassed.....
I almost didn't do anything at all and was going to give up because if I'm going to spend that much money on a car, I need to absolutely love it. And I wasn't getting the warm fuzzy with anything. I wanted to get into an AWD vehicle before winter since I now live in a much snowier area so that was really my timeline. I stopped in at Audi thinking that the Q3 was going to be too small and it would just be another one checked off. I got in touch with them before arriving and didn't really specify what I was looking for beyond the Q3 and wanted to understand the package configurations. When I got there, they had pulled the exact car I wanted in the color and configuration without me disclosing all of that to them yet. I took it as a sign....they just KNEW! And the rest is history.
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