The Best used SUV around $10,000

[chillincarp870]

hey guys my girlfriend has been looking in to buying a suv for 10000 or less. she has been looking at the saturn vue, trailblazer, envoy, and equinox. Any info would help from people who have owned these cars to if anyone finds a good deal somehwere. Thanks for your help.

[Esox_Magnum]

Wife has a Trailblazer, it's nice but next time she gets an Envoy, they are alot nicer.

[CJH]

The Envoy and Trailblazer are mechanically the same, but the Envoy is considered "Premium" as GMC's vs. Chevy's offering and should have a few more features/touches to it that she may/may not want. These are both midsize.

My Dad had a trailblazer for several years and really liked it.

The Vue/Equinox are small SUV's and should get better mileage, but won't have quite as much cargo room or really be able to tow anything.

Really depends on her needs......

[bucketmouth64]

Remember that Saturn was dropped by GM. So I wouldn't want to buy a vehicle that won't exist in the near future. I would look at an Explorer. Look around as there are many good deals for these types of vehicles.

[BoxMN]

I inherited my Dad's 05 Trailblazer. It is pretty nice, and hard to get my wife out of it, she really likes it. I like a full sized truck, but gotta say this TB is very comfy. Get's 23 mpg as best on highway, driving 60, around 16.5 mpg driving in city, even in winter, and around 21 mpg driving normal (slightly fast) highway speeds. It tows pretty good, better than I thought it would. Very comfy ride.

Only probs so far are the GM instrument cluster (under warranty) and the rear doors have air leaks that you can hear, but no moisture gets in. I put in new gasket around door, did not do it. I think I found where it is coming from, but haven't tried fix yet.

I even had it in NoDak duck hunting and it navigated the muddy fields and grasslands and wet wet field roads just fine - even ended up pulling a SuperDuty out when he sank through to muck. It is the little truck that could, haha!

Have 68,000 miles on now. Good luck with your decision.

edit - oh yeah, it takes 6 quarts of oil for change, so it is slightly more expensive to maintain, changes are about $3-5 more than normal.

[deadeye]

To me it would depend on what is going to be done with it.

If its going to be a city run around kind of vehicle with little towing/off roading then a car based suv would be great. Honda CRV, Toyota RAV4, Chev Equinox, Saturn Vue would be a great choice. You will get better mileage and a nicer ride with a car based suv. They all got AWD as a option so it will still do decent in the winter.

If its going to be used to actually pull something and possibly make a trip or two off road then a truck based suv would be better. The Trailblazer, Envoy, Durango, ect is going to be a better choice.

As mentioned, Saturn is going away which means that they are going to depreciate faster. This is good and bad. You might find a excellent deal because of that, however it will be worth less faster.

[Scott K]

It is funny how nobody has even brought up the best selling SUV ever made. The Explorer, or the Expedition.

[dougger222]

My brothers girlfriend has an 02 Trailblazer. She bought it used with low miles and has had to put TWO motors in it. It's got the aluminum I6 motor and in order to swap motors you have to take the whole front of the vehilce apart. The GM books calls for 21 hours in labor. Recently she had to bring the Trailblazer in again for service and not sure what they did. Last I heard they thought the tranny was making the noise.

A friend of mine owns an auto repair shop and asked him if her experiance with the Trailerblazer was rare and he said his kid also had to replace a motor in an aluminum I6 Trailblazer.

The worse thing is she still owes money on it!

IF you buy her a Trailblazer get one with the V6 motor. They are said to be much more reliable and if/when the motor fails it's half the labor as the I6.

As far as SUV's my wife runs a 2000 Ford Excursion 4x4 diesel. Current mileage 210K never touched the motor or tranny. They are big but you can find good used ones for close to $10K. Other than her BMW this is the best vehicle we've ever owned.

You could have gotten a lot more SUV for $10K back when gas was $4 a gallon!!!

[gregg52]

the orginal SUV

SURBURBAN chev or gmc (now the yukon xl)

thing bout traillazer and envoy they dont get better than a tahoe or yukon and actually might be little spendiiiier

envoy are nice lookin though and have lots of leg (6'2 here)

[hamms-scooter]

I own a 04 saturn vue and in that year gm bought the motor and tranny from Honda!! Its the 250hp 3.5 v6 and i can tow everything i need to. My boat,4x4 anything! Lots of power and torque! My fish trap guide fits in the back with the rear seats folded down with auger! Great vehicle! and the mpg is around 21-23 on freeway and 19 city. I originally went in to get a trailblazer and walked out with this way better IMO!! Plus Honda motor and 5 speed auto! no brainer! I dont care for the old exploders but the new ones are sharp lookin

[zamboni]

It is funny how nobody has even brought up the best selling SUV ever made. The Explorer, or the Expedition.

Or Lincoln or Mercury. All pretty decent.

Apples to Apples I always preferred the Bravada to the Blazer or Trailblazer. I liked the looks better, and the AWD of the Bravada.

[DTro]

The Bravada I had was horrible.

My 4Runner is lights years ahead of it, in terms of quality.

[jltimm]

It is funny how nobody has even brought up the best selling SUV ever made. The Explorer, or the Expedition.

The #1 trade-in on cash for clunkers is the ford Exploder! Another recall for ford that was blamed on tires! (Imagine that!) The exploder is nothing but a re-vamped Bronco 2.

Are you looking for 4wd or doesn't that matter?

[zamboni]

The #1 trade-in on cash for clunkers is the ford Exploder! Another recall for ford that was blamed on tires! (Imagine that!) The exploder is nothing but a re-vamped Bronco 2.

There was proof that the Firestone AT was the cause of most of the rollovers

[zamboni]

The Bravada I had was horrible.

You have the S10 version or the TrailBlazer version? The Trailblazer versions were nice

[Scott K]

It is funny how nobody has even brought up the best selling SUV ever made. The Explorer, or the Expedition.

The #1 trade-in on cash for clunkers is the ford Exploder! Another recall for ford that was blamed on tires! (Imagine that!) The exploder is nothing but a re-vamped Bronco 2.

Are you looking for 4wd or doesn't that matter?

Well if you look at how many miles were on the many Ford Explorers that were turned in, it would tell you that they have long lived their lives. The ones I seen were over 250k, and were mostly from 91-96, and there were a lot more Explorers sold then any other SUV in those years, and in every year since! There might just have been a reason they outsold GM, and Chrysler since it was made in 91! Some years they out sold them combined.

But I am sure it was because they were junk right?

[skolfoppa]

Go drive some different makes and models. We did, and I ended up buying "the princess" a Landcruiser. My thoughts were safety, reliability, and quality.

The only nice thing about the explorers, durangos, and blazers is there are so many salvaged that there is virtually an endless supply of used parts.

Skol.

[dougger222]

Just talked to my friend with the Trailblazer here's the run down,

2002 Trailblazer I6 auto 4x4 bought with 80K miles.

Motor replaced at 120K

Motor replaced at 160K

Tranny bellhousing replaced at 180K ($1K).

Now has 181K. I would run and not walk away from one of these.

Also, as far as roll overs not all suv's are ranked likely to roll over. I believe the most likely to roll over SUV is the RAV4 while the least likely is the Excursion. The big reason is weight. As a matter of fact there are several vehicles that are more likely to roll over than an Excursion. Least likely to roll over? Rolls Royce or Benlty! 1 in 100 accidents end up in a roll over.

[jltimm]

Well if you look at how many miles were on the many Ford Explorers that were turned in, it would tell you that they have long lived their lives.

Yeah, and I'm sure there was no parts, engines or trannys put in them either!

[chillincarp870]

thanks for the help guys, i have been pushing her away from the trailblazers and the envoys they are expensive and bigger then she needs. does anyone own a nissa xtera? she has a lead on one that has around 40,000 miles 2005 for around 7,000 DEAL?? i have no idea. are tehy reliable? she has also been looking into some jeep cherokees and libertys once again good vehicles?? keep the info coming. thanks for the help.

[bak2MN]

I own two Nissan pickups and love them and no problems dont know much about their suvs but I wouldnt be afraid of it. Sounds like a fair price check kelly blue book. Good luck.

[chillincarp870]

has anyone owned a jeep liberty? that is what she is looking at now. thanks for the help asap we are test driving it tonight.

[deadeye]

They are pretty sturdy but aren't that great on the gas. You could probably count on mid teens for mileage with one of those.

[chillincarp870]

what about on the highway? are they reliable? thanks again

[tsande00]

Originally Posted By: jltimm

It is funny how nobody has even brought up the best selling SUV ever made. The Explorer, or the Expedition.

The #1 trade-in on cash for clunkers is the ford Exploder! Another recall for ford that was blamed on tires! (Imagine that!) The exploder is nothing but a re-vamped Bronco 2.

Are you looking for 4wd or doesn't that matter?

Well if you look at how many miles were on the many Ford Explorers that were turned in, it would tell you that they have long lived their lives. The ones I seen were over 250k, and were mostly from 91-96, and there were a lot more Explorers sold then any other SUV in those years, and in every year since! There might just have been a reason they outsold GM, and Chrysler since it was made in 91! Some years they out sold them combined.

But I am sure it was because they were junk right?

I was one of the guys who handed in a Ford Explorer for the cash for clunkers program. Mine had 230K miles on it. I owned it for 7 years, put 80K of those miles on it and the only work I did to it in that time was brakes, a water pump, and oil changes. Best vehicle I have ever owned hands down and I only paid $1600 for it!

I wanted a full size truck due to an expanding family and expanding hobbies...that's the only reason I moved on...Ended up with a Chevy Suburban, which I also like so far.

The Explorer had been sitting in my driveway for a couple of months while it waited on me to put an add in the paper. Then the cash for clunkers program came out and it worked out perfect since I needed a new car to commute to work in.