Buick Ranier vs. Kia Sorento (vehicle, SUV, fuel, CRV)
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Looking at buying a used SUV under 10k.
Some of the options are: 04' Buick Ranier with 52k miles / 07' Buick Rendezvous with 93k miles / 06' Kia Sorento with 84k miles / 04' Nissan Pathfinder with 94k miles.
Right now the Ranier is in the lead with the lowest miles. Any opinions on this vehicle or the others?? Thanks.
Well my first question is what kind of fuel mileage are you looking for?
I would pick the Rainier simply for the 4.2 but at the same time it probably gets the worse gas mileage out of the bunch. The 4.2 is a great motor and it makes more hp/torque then some V8's. It's also a very common platform so parts are plentiful and usually cheap. If you like the Rainier I would also look for Trailblazer, Envoys, or 9-7X's. There all the same platform with the same engine. They also made the Bravada on that platform for a year or two.
The Rendezvous wasn't as well-made. Earlier models had a terrible engine, but the '07 had a different one, I think. That Kia also has no powertrain warranty...their 100K is not transferrable. The Sorento back then was a complete has-been even when it was new. The Pathfinder might be interesting if the price is right. If you like the Rainier they were also sold by Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile, and Saab, yes, but also by Isuzu, called the Ascender. Good luck finding one of those, but as an orphan with a pretty lousy service network (but great parts availability as it's the same underneath as the others) you might be able to beat up the seller a bit on the price.
Just traded in our 04 Rainier. The best we ever did on mileage was 19 mpg, with 2 humans and 4 small dogs going from Florida to Northeast. Around town we were luck to get 14 mpg. The SUV was very comfortable and had plenty of room. Oil was changed every 3000 miles (part of dealer incentive). Water pump broke at 30k (under warranty). At 76K, the speedometer module broke ($600) and a drive sensor needed replacement ($300). At 90K it developed a transmission leak.
Wife did not like the car because she found it difficult to enter and exit due to the height. (She probably would have found all Mid size SUVs hard to enter - she drives a Honda CRV)
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