Best used 4WD car or wagon for my mom?

[jon-mullen]

My sister and I have finally convinced my mom that her Chevy Tracker is a death trap owing to its high center of gravity, rear-wheel drive, and short wheelbase. My sister had to (accidentally) go through an intersection half-sideways in the rain with her baby-sitting charges before my mom was convinced. I've since shown my sister what she did wrong (too much gas, wonder where she learned that ) but the point is that my mom wouldn't sacrifice being that high off the road unless she had 4WD. I said fair enough, there's plenty of good 4WD cars or wagons out there.

The problem is that whenever I mention an option, my dad says it's too expensive to maintain.

My first pick was the E30 325ix, but with me (and my parts car) 10 hours away for 11 months of the year the car wouldn't get maintained properly.

So I said late 90's A4? Too expensive to maintain.
Subie? Too expensive to maintain.
Mazda 6? Too expensive to maintain.
Suzuki SX4? They make cars now (lol)? Too new, out of their price range.

So, I'm asking the internet's experts on virtually everything,

What's the best 4wd car or wagon that can be had for little upfront and isn't expensive to maintain?


Facts and opinions welcome. Thanks.

PS Has to be an automatic (I know). No mopars.

[Ted68]

My 71-year-old widowed mother-in-law is on her second Subaru Forrester. Other than routine maintenance, neither one hs required anything. SHe ran the first to 75,000 and currently has 60,000 on her '06. She takes it to see friends and family all over the western states. Snow, rain or desert, they just don't break down. Used ones are very reasonably priced.

Why do you list these as expensive to maintain?

[flynfrog]

if the cars you listed are to expensive to maintain why not put snow tires on the tracker and learn to drive in snow.

AWD wont fix stupidity

[tarzoon]

If you need something that's a cheap runner and a 4x4 with some safety and reliability, get a volvo xc70 diesel. Please bear in mind I don't live in the US so I don't know how much they cost there. My dad had a few volvos in the past and they are pretty reliable. The diesel is frugal and extremely good for a mummy.

[flynfrog]

If you need something that's a cheap runner and a 4x4 with some safety and reliability, get a volvo xc70 diesel. Please bear in mind I don't live in the US so I don't know how much they cost there. My dad had a few volvos in the past and they are pretty reliable. The diesel is frugal and extremely good for a mummy.

im not sure we can even get that car here.

[marcush.]

subaru is the choice for 4wd economic driving.Bimmer forget .I´m not aware of the prices for Mercedes M-Class in usa ,in germany they go quite cheap..

and of course ,the crown would be Toyota Landcruiser HDJ100 this is a car that has really good torque and is bulletproof ...the 3.0 diesel has little issues with wiring of the dieselpump electronic box but apart from this I´d say this is what you need ,the V8 should be good as well

[jon-mullen]

Why do you list these as expensive to maintain?

I don't think they're any more expensive to maintain than a cheap car that wasn't built right in the first place, it's an issue of convincing my dad, especially considering he doesn't like doing his own oil changes and adopts a "wait and see" attitude towards things like the Check Engine light.

AWD wont fix stupidity

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

XC70 looks like a good choice in general, we don't get the diesel here, though.

Consensus seems to be a Subie.

[bhall]

I can wholeheartedly recommend the Subaru Outback. My mother got one upon moving to an area with a colder climate in 2001.

Admittedly, they're an eyesore, but they're also tremendous performers in inclement weather. Hers handles as well or better in the snow than my 4x4 truck. And aside from routine fluid changes, it hasn't required any repair work whatsoever. Even the automatic transmission has performed flawlessly.

These days, modern imports aren't your father's imports. Reliability and cost of maintenance aren't the issues they once were.

[flynfrog]

Why do you list these as expensive to maintain?

I don't think they're any more expensive to maintain than a cheap car that wasn't built right in the first place, it's an issue of convincing my dad, especially considering he doesn't like doing his own oil changes and adopts a "wait and see" attitude towards things like the Check Engine light.

AWD wont fix stupidity

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

XC70 looks like a good choice in general, we don't get the diesel here, though.

Consensus seems to be a Subie.

Wait you live in KY? Does it even snow there more than a few days out of the year?

Or is snow not what you want the 4wd for. To be honest after living in the mountains for the last few years I really see no reason for AWD unless you are doing some serious off roading.

Tire choice makes much more differnce than what wheels are driving the car.

[GTO]

Wait you live in KY? Does it even snow there more than a few days out of the year?

Or is snow not what you want the 4wd for. To be honest after living in the mountains for the last few years I really see no reason for AWD unless you are doing some serious off roading.

Tire choice makes much more differnce than what wheels are driving the car.

I agree Flyn. The common misconception is that SUV's or other 4WD cars provide greater safety. A 4WD vehicle will help you get started from full stop & will slightly help you get around corners, but will certainly not help you to stop or slow down the car any faster.

[WhiteBlue]

I had an Audi A6 all wheel automatic wagon after a series of E-class rear wheel automatic wagons. The most important thing is good electronic traction control and proper snow tyres.

The Audi quattro added a bit more traction through corners compared to the Merc which was also very good to hold track on straight roads with complete or partial snow cover. Even 80 mph drives on partially snow covered Autobahns were no problem.

The four wheel drive really starts to shine when you get snow fall of 30-60 cm in 48 hours. We do get these conditions regularly in Munich perhaps 1 or 5 times per year. Sometimes you get it for several weeks in Jan/Feb. It gets very difficult to extract anything but an AWD car from the snowed in parking lots we have. Many vehicles are out in the open at the side of the road and owners take days to dig them out. Mountains are the other obvious application where the superior traction shines.

I would get the Audi A6 or A4 wagon any time if I had the money but if the budget is tight the Subaru would be my next bet. I generally do not approve SUVs because they waste energy, but if money is no issue I would be tempted to take a BMW X6 xDrive or a Porsche Cayenne for the snowy weeks soon to come.

[Pandamasque]

I can wholeheartedly recommend the Subaru Outback.

+1 Not a looker but very well made.

Someone suggested an M-Class because they go cheap in Europe. Lol that's probably because the original M-Class in the most shocking and unreliable Merc ever made!

[tarzoon]

I like the subie outback. Although it has a bit of an old fashioned looks, but it's not ugly though!

The xc70 is a quite nice suburban school run. Pity you don't have the diesel. It can easily do 40mpg. The petrol versions burn quite a bit of fuel, but that's not really a problem in the US, I suppose. And it's probably still less thirsty then the subie.

[Belatti]

Everyone here thinks that Subies are perfect for his case?!?!?!?!?!

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me too!!!!!!!

[jon-mullen]

Wait you live in KY? Does it even snow there more than a few days out of the year?

Or is snow not what you want the 4wd for. To be honest after living in the mountains for the last few years I really see no reason for AWD unless you are doing some serious off roading.

Tire choice makes much more differnce than what wheels are driving the car.

Yeah, I'm in Kentucky for school, my family's back in southeastern Pennsylvania. It doesn't snow too much more there than it does here but the roads in Pennsylvania are awful. Even the Turnpike despite it being a toll road. They average a little more than a foot and a half of snow every year, but sometimes it's all at once, and there's a bad blizzard (~2-3 ft) once every five years or so. It rains often, though. I know her drive doesn't require a WRC car and Kimi Raikkonen's skill, but sometimes I think she believes that.

Anyway, thanks for the inputs, very helpful. She's got winter tires on there now and I've been bombarding her e-mail with craigslist Subies so it shouldn't take too long. I actually found it hard to find cost of ownership and reliability information on the internet that wasn't from a no-name source. Motortrend seems to be given over to mostly trying to sell used cars. And you know how people trying to sell used cars are...

I would get the Audi A6 or A4 wagon any time if I had the money but if the budget is tight the Subaru would be my next bet. I generally do not approve SUVs because they waste energy, but if money is no issue I would be tempted to take a BMW X6 xDrive or a Porsche Cayenne for the snowy weeks soon to come.

No fan of SUVs myself, but X6 xDrive for the win for sure! Probably more of it made in America than her Tracker anyway.