BAWC Forums

Quoting from the wife:

We currently have a 2003 GMC Envoy with 181,000 miles. No issues. Owned for 9.5 years now. Only issue is we are 2 adults and 4 kids so we all can't ride in the car. (Also have a 99 VW Jetta with 169,000 that's for sale.)

I've been searching for a new car that'll fit us all. No luck for the past 10 months. Every time something comes up it ends up with a mechanical problem that isn't worth it or so many miles it doesn't have much life left.

Recently found a 2013 Mazda CX-9. 32000 miles. Great condition. Coming from a reputable big new car dealer. They're asking $16,999. Grand total after taxes and all will be $18,833.28. Comes with a 2 year warranty. Vehicle has great reviews, long engine life with good service schedule. Tires and maintenance cost the same as the Envoy. Insurance would go up $145 every 6 months, putting comprehensive/collision on both vehicles in this area.

We'd pay cash. KBB lists $1,300 higher than what they're asking. If we get this we're planning on keeping it 10 - 15 years.

What would BAWC do?

Get the CX9. Vira and I haven't had a single issue with our CX7 besides a ball joint and airbag recalls, which Mazda covered. Vira's sister just bought a 2009 (I think) CX9 and it's been very good to her so far.

Just be warned that your kids might outgrow the 3rd row seat pretty fast. It's not very big at all. But that's possible with any 3 row crossover.

Old mazda's use to have resale value issues...seems like newer ones don't have that issue. Jeff have you looked how much yours has gone down in value?


Coop

If he's going to keep it for 10-15 years, resale is irrelevant.

Yes, ours has taken quite a hit. But we're not upside down on the loan, so that's all good.

its a good car, it is basically a stretched Ford Edge.

Coop pretty much everything in the last 18 months has taken a huge hit in resale value. The used car bubble the recession and cash for clunkers created has started to burst.

2 adults, 4 kids who will grow into adult size over the next 10-15 years. If you can comfortably sit 6 adults in it, get it. Reliability should be great. Just concerned about the room. I'd personally look into full size suvs with 4 kids, but that is me.

2 of them are 10 year old twins, they'll be gone in 10 years (and probably not want to be seen with us within 5 years). The others are a 7 year old who looks like she'll grow up to be one of those people who can eat anything and stay skinny and the other is 1.

We took Vira's sister's CX9 out to St Louis last summer. Me, her, her sister, our 13 yr old nephew, and our 8 yr old nephew. ~4 hour drive each way, everyone with bags for a weekend and snacks for the road. Everyone was comfortable. It would have been a bit more crowded with a 6th person, but still very manageable.

Then get tje cx9, if you want it. I personally remember being very uncomfortable in one. I also dont have small friends or family. So...

I had to look it up but the cx9 is 11 inches longer than the edge. Being we just bought an edge I didn't really believe it. They seem to be cheaper, have more seating, and 3rd row seating. Hmmmmm. Might have picked the wrong vehicle.


Coop

Keep in mind there's several generations of both vehicles. So the sizes may be different. The CX9 just got a ground-up redesign this year. It looks amazing. The older one is still very nice inside though.

Did you go see it and drive it yet?

[quote=""Jeff V.""]Keep in mind there's several generations of both vehicles. So the sizes may be different. The CX9 just got a ground-up redesign this year. It looks amazing. The older one is still very nice inside though.[/quote]

Yeah the new version isn’t related to the Edge at all. The year being looked at here was originally designed when Ford and Mazda had a partnership still.

[quote=""Duck Vader""]Did you go see it and drive it yet?[/quote]

We did. The wife is mixed. I'm ... meh, I'm not a car person though. Both of us aren't happy because of the money involved, especially the BS $589 admin fee. I got my Jetta on Craigslist for $3,300 back in 2009, handed them cash, went to the DMV, and transferred their WA plate to myself. I think I paid $60 licensing + 9.3% sales tax. This place has $190 licensing on top of the admin fee.

At least they're less likely to pawn off a lemon since as a new car dealership they have to worry about their reputation.

We ended up getting it. They let us pay 7k, take it home, and come back and pay the rest after the transfer cleared to the bank. Sadly they didn't let us put it on my CC and use the cash back to pay the licensing.

The sales guy wanted to take a picture.

Nice.

You two look thrilled...

Looks great. Should be a nice upgrade from the Envoy.


I agree those fees are BS though.

Congratulations!

[quote=""Duck Vader""]Nice.

You two look thrilled... [/quote]

The sales guy took that when we paid 7k up front, signed stuff, and took it home with dealer tags. It was after work, I still had to take two practice exams that night, and of course there was that whole 'we just paid 18k for a depreciating asset'.

He took another pic when we came back and paid the remaining 11k (if they put us in their collection of happy customer pics I'm pretty sure that's the one they'd use). I get the ADM fees if you're getting a loan, but all they did for us was put our info in a script and hit print. Heck it took longer to explain to us why they wouldn't accept all 18k on a CC. Apparently they'd had experience in the past where someone did that, then drove off to God knows where in the country, called up their CC company, and claimed a fraudulent charge. So now they only allow up to 3k on a CC, the rest must be debit, cashier's check, or a loan. We missed out on $225 in cash back (1.5% of 15k), but at least even with the ADM fee the vehicle was still under KBB.

The wife loves that Envoy though, it's not going anywhere. She used to off road it in ID. She'd actually been looking for an Envoy XL, but the one we came close to got wholesaled by the local Toyota dealership ... after they listed it on their website and told her over the phone it was still available to look at.