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Large Luxury SUV suggestions

33 messages,  Last post on Feb 24, 2012 at 1:43 PM

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#4 of 33 Re: Large Luxury SUV suggestions [chrangela] by klick

Feb 05, 2007 (7:15 pm)

Replying to: chrangela (Feb 01, 2007 2:29 pm)
Which Merc did you drive, the R or GL (I assume it wasn't the ML which is only a 5 seater)? I think the GL is competitive with the Infinity and Escalade in terms of cargo room behind the 3rd row, but I'm not positive. I would suggest you look at the Audi Q7, but if you found the Mercedes to be too small, then the Q7 will be too small as well. You should definitely wait to see the new Buick Enclave, which is coming some time this year. It should fit the bill size wise and will drive/handle much better than either the Infiniti or Escalade while offering a similar or higher level of luxury (but not quite to the level of the Mercedes).
 
Based on your criteria, I would rank these in the following order: 1. Mercedes GL; 2. Buick Enclave; 3. Infiniti; 4. Escalade.
 
One other point - the Mercedes is the only proper luxury vehicle in this group, although the Buick comes close. The Infiniti and Escalade simply don't have the level of refinement necessary to qualify them as luxury vehicles, something that no amount of leather or techno-gadgetry (or zeros in the price) can hide.

#5 of 33 Your Thoughts by chrangela

Feb 06, 2007 (8:36 am)

Thanks for your thoughts. I -please don't kill me for saying it- prefer not to buy an American made car due to previous experiences with Ford. However, since I need the cargo space behind the third row I can's seem to find any foriegn made canidates. The smaller SUVs abound, such as the Acura MDX, which I love. I don't need a proper luxury SUV as a quasi luxury vehicle will do. The Sequoia is perfect in size but I hated how its quality and how it drove compared to the MDX I have now. The Infiniti QX56 has horrible consumer reports ratings. How much weight do you give these ratings? Why do you rate the Escalade below the Infiniti? DO you think they handle equally well? How do you think their braking and turning circle compare?
I'm not technical with these things so though I can dig up facts any guidance you can provide is appreciated.
 
Angela

#6 of 33 Re: Your Thoughts [chrangela] by klick

Feb 06, 2007 (9:01 am)

Replying to: chrangela (Feb 06, 2007 8:36 am)
Again, which Merc did you drive? If you haven't looked at the GL yet, then you should as it fulfills all of your criteria, including not being American made.
 
As to the American made issue, I don't disagree with you generally, but the Buick Enclave (and the Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia which share the same platform) is the first and only domestic SUV that I would actually recommend.
 
If near-luxury is good enough, then you should go look at a loaded Saturn Outlook or GMC Acadia (again - same platform as the Buick Enclave) which is in dealers now. Fully loaded it runs around $42k and is years ahead of most domestic suv's in terms of build/drive/handling.
 
How much cargo space do you need behind the 3rd row? What type of items, for example, do you want to be able to fit behind the 3rd row on a regular basis?

#7 of 33 Re: Your Thoughts [klick] by chrangela

Feb 06, 2007 (9:19 am)

Replying to: klick (Feb 06, 2007 9:01 am)
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your offer to help me.
I looked at the Mercedes GL. I loved how it drove. I could make tight U turns, brake quickly,, park easily and make sharp turns safely without feeling as though the car was going to topple over. I feel this way when I drive my Acura MDX, though the Mercedes drove even better. I'd but another MDX or Mercedes, but there is not enough cargo room in either for me. I have five kids who are with me all the time so I need to seat seven (with husband who accompanies me) along with the soccer mom stuff such as coolers, chairs, gym bags, school books, stroller, etc. I could manage with the MDX fine with four kids since I was able to pot on seat down with the 60/40 split, but not that I have a fifth child I must have all seats up and the trunk space is not enought to even make a grocery trip. The Infiniti has eight seats so I can put down one and have trunk space to go grocery shopping and leave the stroller in at the same time. Right now, I can't do mroe than one errand at a time because I don't have enough trunk space. The Sequoia had a perfect amount of trunk space, but it did not drive as well as the MDX and the Mercedes. I'm not sure what intangibles I am feeling when I test drive so I don;t have any objective criteria to look at. Can you tell from my description what criteria I am "feeling" and should look at? Is it turning radius, braking distance, height of the vehicle? I test drove the Lexus SUV GX and LX but both have a 50/50 split which requires me to keep both seats up in order to seat my family and leaves little to no cargo room. (I loved the GX, btw.)
 
Clueless,
Chrangela

#8 of 33 Re: Repost of Your Thoughts [chrangela] by chrangela

Feb 06, 2007 (3:14 pm)

Replying to: chrangela (Feb 06, 2007 9:19 am)
I just reread my post. I was in a really big rush when I wrote it and it seems really difficult to understand. Below is my repost.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your offer to help me.
  
I looked at the Mercedes GL. I love how it drives. I could make tight U turns, brake quickly, park easily and make sharp turns without feeling as though the car was going to topple over. My Acura MDX's drive feels similar, though the Mercedes drives better. I'd buy a Mercedes or another MDX, but there is not enough cargo room in either for me. I have five kids who are with me all the time so I need to seat seven (with husband who accompanies me now and then) along with the family stuff such as coolers, chairs, gym bags, school books, stroller, etc. I could manage with the MDX fine with four kids since I was able to put a seat down with the 60/40 split, but now that I have a fifth child I must have all seats up and the trunk space is not enough to even make a grocery trip.
 
The Infiniti has eight seats so I can put down one and have trunk space to go grocery shopping and leave the stroller in at the same time. Right now, with the MDX I can't do more than one errand at a time because I don't have enough trunk space.
 
The Sequoia has a perfect amount of trunk space for my needs, but it did not drive as well as the MDX and the Mercedes.
 
I'm not sure what intangibles I am feeling when I test drive so I don't have which objective criteria to compare. Can you tell from my description what criteria I am "feeling" and should look at? Is it turning radius, braking distance, height of the vehicle?
 
I test drove and loved the Lexus SUVs but both have a 50/50 split which requires me to keep both back seats up in order to seat my family and leaves little to no cargo room. (I loved the GX, btw.)
  
Clueless,
Chrangela

#9 of 33 Anyone here? by chrangela

Feb 09, 2007 (6:16 pm)

Replying to: chrangela (Feb 06, 2007 3:14 pm)
I put in a call to the Infiniti dealership and plan to pick up my new QX56 tomorrow. Does anyone have any advice to give me regarding options, etc? I was really hoping someone would tell me the QX was awful or great, so I am still really unsure.
 
Any last minute help welcome.
 
Chrangela

#10 of 33 Re: Anyone here? [chrangela] by tidester

Feb 10, 2007 (12:14 am)

Replying to: chrangela (Feb 09, 2007 6:16 pm)
plan to pick up my new QX56 tomorrow
 
If you are taking delivery tomorrow (today?) then haven't you already decided on options? In any case, you will probably get a quicker reply from those who already own a QX in Infiniti QX56.
 
tidester, host

#11 of 33 QX by chrangela

Feb 10, 2007 (7:11 am)

Hello,
 
Thanks for your reply. I was hoping someone might urge me to consider something else, but it seems that the Infiniti is the closest thing to my needs on the market right now.
 
Does anyone know how the trunk space of the Infiniti with one seat down compares to the Cadillac?
 
Chrangela

#12 of 33 Re: QX [chrangela] by klick

Feb 10, 2007 (9:13 am)

Replying to: chrangela (Feb 10, 2007 7:11 am)
If you re-read , my posts, you'll see that I have urged you to wait for the Buick Enclave or look at the Saturn Outlook. I'm not sure if you've decided not to because of the domestic issue, but again, if you re-read my posts, you'll see that I don't think these models suffer the same problems as other domestic suvs have.
 
Finally, I would STRONGLY recommend that you bring to each car dealership the full complement of cargo items that you would routinely need to fit behind the third row and see how they would actually fit in each suv that you're considering. Cargo capacities are very hard to gauge by eye, and you might find that one that looks too small is actually fine (GL maybe?) and one that looks bigger than the others isn't. I did this a few years ago when I was shopping and the results were surprising to say the least.

#13 of 33 One more thing by klick

Feb 10, 2007 (9:19 am)

I would also add that if your inclination is that it's too much trouble to bring all that stuff to each dealership and actually test each suv's cargo space, remember that you're going to be driving this vehicle every day for at least a couple years. One day of lugging stuff around is a small price to pay to get the right suv for you.

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