Originally Posted by dgunay
Originally Posted by edyvw
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By the way, no offense for VW owners. I own 10 year old Japanese car with no rust and did nothing except regular oil changes not even a spark plug change. A friend of mine owns 10 year old VW Jetta City with lots of rusty panels, he forgot how many times he got a CEL. It overheated once, changed water pump and thermostat. He changed ignition parts and MAF sensor multiple times, and whole throttle body assembly once. Not to mention it is worth 1/2 price of my Acura, same year same segment car, and same mileage (around 90-100k miles). I was working on his car, that's why I can keep track of it
That VW was in flood or involved in accident (probably). There is no Aisan manufacturer, including Lexus and Acura that have rust protection on par with cheapest vehicle offered from Germany, and I am talking VW Polo, Skoda Fabia (OK, Czech Republic) etc.
I think you are right, as they offer better warranty for rust. He still has warranty which I wasn't expecting that at all, though they try their best not to cover all parts claiming that it's due to external factors. But some parts were repainted and covered by the warranty, still better than nothing.
I know Skoda and Seat btw. They make financially more sense since you basically get the same car-drivetrain with slightly lower quality plastic trims (which is still on par-better than Japanese counterparts) for way better price in EU countries. I especially like the Skoda Superb.
Take a look at VW Atlas. In family size SUV there is nothing more practical. VR6 is absolutely bulletproof and 8 speed is programmed really good.
It falls within your price range.
Mazda CX-9 is good too. Forced induction as you wanted and in that category probably drives best. 310lb-ft is no joke for merging. Only problem with CX-9 is that it is not luxury SUV, but on other side it is kind of small in family SUV class.
By the way, I owned two Skoda Octavia's, and I would take that body work any time over any Asian mfrs.