What is the best preowned compact SUV to purchase? I really had my heart set on a Hyundai Tucson,but didn’t pan out. The dealership showed me a 2017 Nissan Infiniti with 39,980 miles on it. I do drive a lot so I want to keep mileage fairly low. Is it worth a 400 month payment?
Consider the Toyota RAV4, Highlander, and Lexus RX whichever one fits your budget (used is a smart choice).
Can you tell us more what you are looking for? (I.e. lease or buy? is reliability #1? do you want it to last 200,000+ miles, how long do you want to keep it for, do you need AWD?, towing?, any other constraints?)
I’m looking to buy. I do want AWD, and as long as there’s no major issues, was a good reliable vehicle will keep it for many years, and many miles. I was researching the Kia Sportage and Scotty the mechanic did not recommend it at all, unless you were planning on keeping for a couple yrs,,but def not for long term. I wanted to keep my monthly payment under 350. Also not planning on towing or anything like that.
Have you looked at a used RAV4? That would be my recommendation.
Infinitis usually employ CVT (continuously variable) transmissions made by Jatco.
I'm not sure if mass experience with CVTs is the same all over the world, but here in Russia they are considered terrible for SUVs, especially if you plan to tow stuff or go off-road. Jatco CVTs have got an extremely bad reputation here, because some models used on Nissan/Infiniti during 2010-2016 were super unreliable and could go out as soon as you touch some dirt without asphalt underneath, and costed a fortune to repair.
Hyundai Tucson (or its twin, Kia Sportage) would actually be a better choice here if it has the well-known Hyundai/Kia 6-speed hydraulic automatic transmission. The flipside would be the engine — those Theta II engines demand a good amount of care put into them to keep them in good shape (at least here in Russia) and newer Nu engines can run into problems because of a not-so-greatly placed catalytic converter inside the exhaust manifold. As for the AWD system, Hyundai/Kia cars usually have a stronger version of AWD assembly in models with Diesel and turbo gasoline engines.
To show you just how bad Jatco CVTs are in my experience: my friend's Nissan Qashqai had its CVT electrical wiring go bad, so they had to replace it. In order to replace it they had to buy a whole wiring assembly (taken from another Qashqai that broke down), tear down the vehicle (these wires are *short*), install it and put everything back, and it didn't fix anything. Turns out that this particular version of CVT is extremely sensitive to voltage levels and signal delays that come out of this wiring assembly, so my friend had to order another wiring assembly from Nissan, this time with a new firmware for the CVT controller (yes, they make new firmwares for every set of wires they sell for their CVTs), and THEN it got back to normal.
The total cost of repairs was a bit less than 250,000 rubles, that's ~3,300 USD. Hell, you can repair the AWD on Tucson and Sportage here for ~50k (~660 USD)!
Toyota SUVs. Used ones aren’t cheap but they do last really looooooong time.
—— Scotty
No to Hyundai and no to Nissan. Especially if you rack up the mileage. As everyone above and about the other 99% of people will say in this forum. Get a Toyota for longevity.
