BMW X3M, loved it so much that we traded my wife’s 340i in for one. 500hp and mid 3 second 0-60 with baby seat in the back.

I am not surprised you like the X3M. A couple years ago I helped my mom pick out an X3, not M, but with the 2.0t, whatever they call that one. It was exactly what she had in mind in pretty much every way and I loved the performance and the way it drove. This was just before car prices started to go up like mad and she got the BMW for not much more than the loaded Honda CRV that we had just looked at.

Aint that the truth! GM cant seem to stop catering many vehicles to the 60+ demographic. I still dont know how the GMC line is still around and not just intergrated into the chevy line. I do think they finally got rid of that hideous Champaign color though.


I recently had a dodge charger rental car and was completely unimpressed. Albeit a base model, the car felt clunky, cheap, slow, and not intuitive at all. Dodge has always had a knack for using recycled coke bottles for the interior plastic and it still holds true.

Good car to rent...not to own!
I rented a Toyota Camry a couple weeks ago while I was in Texas. Now, this was mostly highway miles but it was getting 40ish mpg. And that was using cruise around 80mph. Comfortable car, but not my cup of tea. 4Runner is the only 4 door vehicle I have owned in 25 years or so.

2022 Tesla Model 3 LR and performance. Also Model Y LR and Performance. Damn good for all 4 variants. I ended up buying a Model Y performance to get the hatchback layout. Much better for a young family transporting hockey bags around.

My wife owns a 2016 Outback with the Flat 6 cylinder Boxer engine. Too bad Subaru discontinued this engine it has plenty of power.
Its still a nice all around vehicle for the price.
I would not buy a new one with the 4 cylinder either.

I agree. The NA 2.5L plus the CVT is just awful. I had a Legacy for a while. I want to say it was a 2012. The CVT was so depressing especially when coupled with the 2.5L, plus they are problematic too. When I traded it for a G37X I can remember saying out loud to multiple different people that "it's nice to have a real car again".

The Subarus that used to be made in Japan were great, owned an XT6 and an SVX and they were both great cars. Now the ones made in the US....that could be the problem. just sayin.

I am very glad my 4Runner was made in Japan.


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Buying a first year Stellantis product can be an adventure. The Hemi engines with cylinder deactivation tend to develop a tick at 75k. Known as the Hemi tick. It's not cheap to repair. They do have a new generation Straight 6 engine with turbos in two different power levels. The engine recently started production. It's rumored the I6 will replace most of the current V6 and V8's.

Ram 1500. Rented one a year or so ago. Was a Laramie trim with the 5.7. It was as good as advertised as far as being incredibly quiet on the highway. They're quieter than almost every luxury sedan on paper, but it really is impressive. I bought a tundra, so obviously it wasn't good enough to get me to buy it. The tundra is not really close in ride comfort or fuel efficiency. Just did an 800 mile run with a ~7500lb trailer. But it's Toyota reliable and that's still more important in my overall evaluation. Just got out of a truck that was a nightmare of unreliability. It was a close call though. I seriously considered a Ram 1500 or possibly a Sierra with the baby duramax instead. The 3.0 duramax is really nice to drive, likely not so nice to own long term.

4Runner was initially my safe bet purchase but 1 year in, I’m not regretting it at ALL.

Unless I missed something - what was the unreliable nightmare truck?


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Best vehicles built by man. I’d go for a 100 series over just about anything new. Gas hogs though.

YL’s 2019 Highlander is great, just a little too product-y for my tastes. Good family hauler. We crossed that against a 2022 Outback Limited, we both walked away from that test drive with zero desire to ever get back in that car again.

The GX series is a LC Prado in the ROW. Couldn’t convince her to get that over the Highlander, though.

Funny you mentioned rentals. I was an Enterprise Rent-A-Car clone for a few years out of college. This was a couple years after the bailout. Amazing to see which manufactures seem to make specific vehicles for only rental use to get cars off the line. Just boring people movers. Dodge/Chrysler and GM were peak rental fleet. Impala, Cobalt, Equinox, Avenger, Charger, 200, 300.

I would agree with that: rent, not own. But if I was gifted one I would not be upset.