Most off-road worthy crossover?

I kept the records of repairs and payments. Bought used (70K miles). Repairs for the one year we had it were $500 more than the payments! It STOPPED without warning on the Columbia River Bridge between Portland and Vancouver. Got it to a gas station, filled it up and waited an hour, got it back over the Cascades. Alarm started blaring at 3 AM=took it to a dealer and traded it for a Pathfinder the next day=same mileage, no problems for 4 years!

 

Bells and whistles that don't work for long! My mechanic always seems to have a late model Jeep in the shop when I get the oil changed. One had a "tranny" boxed and sitting next to the rack.

My 2019 SR5 Premium has all I want and handles the snow on the dry side ("dry side" because we get more snow than rain every year=got some predicted for today). Paid $40K with 17K miles when I retired. Paid cash, so no car payments. Handles the eastern Cascades and Sierras (where it actually DOES snow!) every year for one or 2 trips to SoCal. I've noticed a definite increase in 4Runners all along the eastern slopes from the Columbia River to Vegas. Los Angeles has an increase in 4 Runners but still many "Freeway Flyer" Jeeps. Went to Bodie last month (The California Bodie, not the Washington one) and saw one Jeep in the lot.

The "Blue Beast" at the CSU Desert Studies Center, Zzyzx, California:

 

'Nuff said!

 

Back to the OP: My experience with Subaru is limited to a '78 Subaru BRAT. The trans-axle boots didn't last and were a PITA to change. Kept leaking onto exhaust manifold and smoking= embarrassing but livable (had to be changed every 18 mo or so.)==My first AWD/4WD!.

Had 2 RAV4s: a '97 2WD stick and a '13 AWD automatic. Loved them both. Traded the 2WD when we moved to WA. The AWD is a dream for my wife during the winter months for snowy roads and highways=good on FS roads as well. Snow too deep for the RAV (1 or 2x a year)(?), she takes the 4Runner.

 

My wife and I have never had a vehicle loan in our 34yrs of marriage, if we can’t outright buy it, we don’t, we saved our money until we could and drove payed-off used vehicles. Keep saving.

 

I feel the budget, similar Highlander's and Passport's that met my non-off-roady criteria were a good $9k less. I got lucky with a new-ish job but before that I was paging around looking at R51 Pathfinders, Xterras, even the first-gen Sorento for a bit. Had I started with something trucky first it would've probably given me more wiggle-room in the future but I don't outright regret the '16 Sorento. I didn't know what I know now and it was still a great learning experience.

They're run independently with Hyundai owning a third or so of Kia, but Kia isn't an outright subsidiary - I think we can liken it vaguely to Ford's stake in Mazda and their partnership back in the day. (I say 1/3 but that's last I checked, not sure if that's current)

 

Lexus is a division and completely Toyota. Kia is not under Hyundai's thumb like Lexus is under Toyota with Hyundai owning only 30-something percent. Heck, Kia is a partial owner of a number of Hyundai subsidiaries so I wouldn't go so far as to say whatever subsidiaries those are can't do a thing without Kia's corporate blessing.

Crazy intertwined and I'm sure complete with all the messiness that comes with chaebol dealings but I'd characterize them as close siblings over a parent/subsidiary dynamic.

 

‘it is indeed buying used is a crap shoot

would believe you a lot more it you bought it new

70 g in miles is a lot of abuse, or it can be

 

Never had as many problems with a Toyota or Datsun/Nissan buying used several with more miles! Bought Nissans with ~100K and no problems; my Toyota p/u (bought new) went 329K with only new clutches! Two worst cars I've had were a Ford Bronco (Bought new!) and that Jeep (OK, also a used Fiat! before I bought 4WDs)

 

Not even with 0% or other similarly low finance rates!?

you could even have saved up and then taken upwards of 3.9% loan, while keeping your principal in a high interest rate, fixed income investment. You’d come out on top

 

We made double house payments as much as possible as well, paid off a 30yr in 20 and made some good investments. Our only large expenses are insurance and Medicare supplemental payments.
I have been retired for almost 8yrs, own a new custom home outright on acreage and zero loans on anything. Paid cash for the new 4Runner….we have done alright.
Edit: left out property taxes….

 

Livin' the dream! Great work!

Too bad healthcare bleeds us dry though. My mother took an early retirement offer a few years back, she ended up having to go back to work because insurance was so expensive for her and my dad.

 

Initially, I was kinda bummed out when I had to switch to Medicare when I turned 65 but when you add good $upplimental insurance it is every bit as good as before for quite a bit less.