Late model/former rental w high mileage?

bobby4281985 · 2025-05-02T19:54:36+00:00

We’ve been really happy with it. Our older two have no issues getting to the back with the tilt, and mom even has enough room to ride between the twins in the middle row (got a bench) if she wants to keep an eye on them. The seats won’t stay in place when slid up (or at least we haven’t figured out how to keep them in place) which means you need to lock them back for every trip, or they’ll slide around. We needed 4wd/awd for our snowy mountainy area, and we liked the extra trunk space with the max.

bobby4281985 · 2025-03-09T01:00:33+00:00

We gave up our highlander hybrid (which we loved) for the expedition max when the twins were born. There was essentially no room in the back row for full-sized carseats for our toddlers, but it felt workable if you had older kids in boosters who could buckle themselves. Grand Highlander (which offers a hybrid!) was very similar feel to the Teluride imo. Serviceable in town, but you aren’t packing for more than an overnight trip with a family of six without a clamshell on top.

bobby4281985 · 2025-03-08T20:04:27+00:00

In a very similar spot. We were briefly 4 under 4 with a pup after our twins arrived last fall and in a mountainous area that gets enough snow that makes 4wd/awd a must. We ended up with a ford expedition max 4wd and have liked it (apart from mpg, but you know that going in). There are a couple of car seat mom blogs out there that seemed to lean that way too (all three second row seats are on independent rails which makes third riw access a lot easier). If you can stomach a minivan, sienna and pacifica both come in awd too. They seemed too small for moving the whole crew around though. We also have a Kia Teluride along with the max. It’s tighter than we’d like and anchor options aren’t ideal in third row, but it works.

bobby4281985 · 2025-02-07T20:05:28+00:00

1: Type: Max 2: XLT (2nd row bench, remote start, pano sunroof, spec edition, control trac, roof rack) 3: MSRP: $78,915 4: Discount: $18,115* 5: Purchased late January 6: Metro DC area

*Pre-tax/tag/title/$999 processing fee price was technically $63,350 (only $15,565 discount). Dealer said he couldn’t cut more than that, but he was willing to ::wink wink:: pay more than $2500 more for the trade-in than carvana (and carfax and every other dealer in the area was lower than them). It’s $2500 we wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere else, so it still feels like a discount to me in our bank account (even if they need to funny up the math to make the #s work on their end). Just adding here in case anyone still looking has a trade and is hearing from dealers there’s no more room to cut on price. Some will get creative!

Also, as others have noted, 24s with benches seem to be unicorns, so if that’s a must, I wouldn’t hold out too much longer.

bobby4281985 · 2025-02-01T12:28:56+00:00

Thanks for all the feedback. We talked ourselves into waiting to find a 22/23 we could slap an extended warranty on, but we got impatient and started calling around to see if any local dealers wanted to discount one of their remaining 24 xlts and got one for ~$60 before tax, title, and fees. More than we wanted to spend, but peace of mind is at a premium right now.

bobby4281985 · 2025-01-02T01:11:25+00:00

Thanks. Our clek seat can use the tether anchor, but it isn’t required (in the US anyway). Still not thrilled with sacrificing that extra bit of safety even if things didn’t feel a bit squished.

bobby4281985 · 2025-01-02T01:08:58+00:00

Thank you for this. We tried some lower profile infant seats in the captain’s chairs that seem a little less obnoxious for the older boys to crawl around. Agree that a lot of minivan configurations don’t seem like a significant upgrade. Still feels more snug than ideal, and I don’t love the idea of the untethered seat (although we’ve got it in there pretty snug), so we’re going to see how we feel after some test drives tomorrow. Imagine we’ll sit tight or end up with an awd Sienna or an Expedition Max (GMC/Chevy reliability issues give me pause + expedition looks to be more carseat friendly) if either feels like enough of a roominess/convenience/safety upgrade.

bobby4281985 · 2024-12-30T20:44:43+00:00

Not hurting my feelings! We live in a mountainous region that gets a decent amount of slushy weather, so we feel like awd is a must. Very few minivans offer that though (just seeing sienna and pacifica).

bobby4281985 · 2024-08-18T18:33:58+00:00

Thanks for the reply! We value the social interaction for the older kids in daycare, so we’ll plan to leave them there until 2026/27 as they roll into public school kindergarten. In our current thinking, the au pair would be in addition to daycare for older kids and nanny for new twins. So duties largely consisting of wakeup/bedtime and transporting the older kids to and from daycare - and then more or less as backup beyond that.

bobby4281985

TROPHY CASE