Contrary to popular belief, SUVs haven’t stopped selling. Although SUV market demand is but a fraction of what it was in its heyday, many of today’s SUV buyers are finding remarkable bargains. Dealers are slashing prices to stay afloat in these difficult times. When you take the evaporation of sticker price into account along with the recent plunge in prices at the pump, conventional wisdom can get turned on its head. The SUV can be a wise choice, in situations with certain needs. The trick is to find the best SUV for the circumstances.
There’s no question that some eschew the perceived excess and creature comforts. But once accustomed to the space and flexibility of a SUV, it can be difficult to downsize. When the lease on Amy’s older Acura MDX came due, she and her husband initially wanted to replace it with an ’08 MDX. They shopped the new MDX along with the Nissan Murano, but ended up leasing a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, based on a significantly lower price.
While it took a bit of negotiation, Amy (the founder of LIParentSource.com) landed a great deal. “Although our pricing — both ours and the dealers — was very far apart at first, the dealer truly wanted to unload these trucks and eventually came down to our price,” Amy explained. “Chrysler itself was offering about $12,000 in rebates at the time so it really enabled us to get a great price on a car that normally would have been out of our price range.” The deal flowed with the factory incentives. “Once we decided on the Jeep, the purchase process was relatively smooth. No trying to sell us things we didn’t need, no trying to upgrade us with other features. It was just what it was and that was it.”
“Because we are a family of 4 with two small kids and a large dog, there was never any question that we were getting an SUV. We wound up leasing a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with not only a V8 engine but a HEMI,” remarked Amy, “It wasn’t what we initially wanted, but the price difference between this SUV and every other one we looked at was so great — the Jeep price was SO far below anything else we looked at — that it really made up for the difference in gas price, still letting us come out on top in the end.”
MPG-o-Matic Pontiac G6 Review Summary: The 2009 Pontiac G6 sedan is worthy competitor in a hotly contested field. After a 500-mile review, we were won over by the base G6’s gas mileage, ride, interior comfort, and value.
