After about six months of keeping an eye on the market, research, test drives, and waiting out good deals, we made the leap yesterday.
It ultimately came down to two options:
2017 Kia Sportage EX (with popular and tech packages)
2016 BMW X1 (premium and cold weather)
We ruled out the Honda HRV after poor performance and disliking the interior fit/finish.
We ruled out the Fiat for reliability concerns as well as being too small for our childseat/stroller needs.
We drove the Audi Q3. While that ended up being my preferred option, it had less cargo space and didn't fit DW as well, and she's the primary driver.
As with a lot of these decisions, it came down to trying to justify spending more money on an essentially similar vehicle. The 2017 Kia is markedly larger now, with better reliability, better warranty, same cargo space but more spacious back seat, worse gas mileage and worse performance. We could get the one we wanted for around $30k.
The BMW with the options we wanted had MSRP around $40k depending on which bells and whistles were included. After a lot of digging and talking to dealers in LA and even New Hampshire, and looking at various dealer loaner sales options, we learned when BMW's fiscal quarter ended (June 30th) and learned that they were shutting down production on the 2016 X1s next month. Every dealer we talked to was trying to move their 2016 inventory, particularly by the end of June.
We found fully loaded 2016 X1s for $37,000 with 5000 miles and preferred exterior color but not the interior color we wanted about two weeks ago. This was a good deal...
We waited it out, leveraged dealer offers against one another, and ultimately yesterday were able to get a brand new X1 in preferred colors (both in and out) along with upgraded upholstery for $36,700 (MSRP of $41,695 for premium, luxury, and cold weather - almost 12% below MSRP, and 5% below supposed dealer invoice) which was actually less expensive than the used, 5000-mile loaner and the only other difference was that the used had Nav (which we didn't care about). It ended up even being under the MSRP for an X1 with only her "must haves".
That sealed the deal for us. So we made the trek north and drove past at least five other dealerships for the one that came in with exactly what DW wanted at the best price we'd found. (This required me to drive to LA, which I avoid at all costs.
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Ultimately, this wasn't the most financially responsible purchase possible, but it also doesn't stretch our budget or change our saving ability. The X1 is really nice, not too big for our smallish two-car garage, fits DW well and is very fun to drive. There's some value in that, and I feel like the decision was made based on actually enjoying the vehicle more (sportier, AWD (in the event we move east), better gas mileage, nice little touches) than it was made on buying a prestigious badge. That's really not DWs style (I'm a little more likely to want something like a BMW than she is)... and in any event, for what we ended up with, we got an "exceptional price" by TrueCar, Edmunds, and traditional pricing metric standards.
We said goodbye to the old faithful 2005 Acura RSX after 163,500 miles. Carmax gave us $2,000 (dealer offered $1,000 on trade).
So, we're happy. Thanks for all the feedback! I'll be replacing my car in a few years... after joking with DW that "now I
need an X5, right?", I built one on Edmunds and damn near choked at the MSRP I had created... I think a nice, fully-loaded Scooby will be more up my alley.
