What is a Crossover? It's a relatively new category of vehicle that intends to marry the best of a car (economy) with the best of an SUV (function). Trucks and SUVs are full frame vehicles. The cabin portion of the vehicle is bolted or welded onto a frame. The pluses are torsional strength for hauling and towing. One can work out of their truck or SUV. They're also great for recreation: boating, camping, vacationing. Another asset of the SUV is cabin room and comfort. The Crossover is designed with the comfort, room, and function of an SUV but without the frame with the intent of saving weight and therefore improving gas mileage.
Buy the right vehicle for the job. Don't buy a Crossover to do heavy towing or hauling. As a general rule towing less than 2,000 lbs. is fine for a crossover. A knowledgeable sales consultant can help you with your hauling and towing questions.
Don't be afraid of your sales consultant. He/she can help you find the right vehicle for you. At Vestal our newest salesperson has been with us more than three years. We do have some experience and expertise.
Find
friends and coworkers who drive different vehicles. Ask them what they
like and don't like about their car. The last resource to trust is the
media.
If a journalist personally owns one brand, and doesn't want to crucify it, they won't. Do you think 30 years of being buried on page 8 versus front page headlines can create a different image to the eye of the public? Voila, an urban myth is born.
If you intend to own the vehicle for longer than 5 years, dependability is obviously a major concern. Don't be influenced by the nurtured urban myth that "Americans can't build quality cars." Such a categorical statement is really remarkable. We can put a man on the moon, put a missile in a 4" vent from 5 miles in the air, build the largest transportation system and the smallest silicone chip in the free world, but be can't build a quality car. Wouldn't the best resource for judging a quality long lasting car be the "buy here, pay here" lots that every city has on countless street corners? Their whole world is the 10 to 20 year old, 100,000 to 200,000 mile car. Ask them. You might be surprised on what you learn.
Almost all car reviews are dealing with brand new from the factory vehicles.. Their "long term" studies are, at most, 3 year old studies. What are they talking about? How does 3 years qualify as a long term study for a car?
Don't judge the depth of the well by the handle on the pump. Don't buy a vehicle because you read a review and the picture looked good in a magazine. Visit the dealerships. Test drive the cars. Many a cheap toy looks good fresh out of the Christmas paper.
Don't let a car critic who lives in a big city, who drives 40 minutes to work each day, at a top speed of 45 mph, recite to you the evils of SUV's, trucks, and large cars.
An American vehicle is less expensive to maintain than an import.
An American vehicle is usually far less expensive to repair versus an import. Often the difference is shocking.
A
simple fact of physics in a collision: larger is safer. If two items collide, the item with the most weight usually suffers the least. If a subcompact and an SUV or
Van are in a collision which car do want to be in? So if you drive the
interstate to and from work, I would consider nothing smaller than a
midsize car. We sell subcompacts too. They're fine for city streets.
But more weight usually means less gas mileage. At what gas mileage savings is your safety worth?
You know what I like about a Buick? It's often a larger car with the gas mileage of a much smaller car. Safety, comfort, and economy. Wow. But Buick isn't always the larger car. We have small Buicks too!
Ask questions. When you see a vehicle that's been purchased from a dealership that you're considering doing business with, ask the owners of that vehicle what they think of that dealership. Most people are willing to give honest answers and don't mind being asked. We're all in this together and want to do business with "good guys."
After 9/11, the Detroit 3 gave 40 million dollars in cash and emergency vehicles to the relief effort. Our Asian and European counterparts gave $0.
The European version of "Cash For Clunkers" was for native cars only (Only vehicles built in their homeland qualified). The American version readily opened it up to all manufacturers. Japan, doing theirs after America, opened their program to American vehicles at the 12th hour, only after significant political pressure and embarrassment.
Visit
an American dealership. If you visited a Chrysler, Ford, and GM
dealership, with an open mind and a fair shake (we have actually had customers show up on the lot just to say that they visited an American dealership), it will be very difficult to not find a vehicle you will
like. And if you purchase an American vehicle versus an import, you
just saved 3 to 4 Americans their job.
