Recommend a Deerfoot commuter car

[Strider]

Wife's office is moving to the south, increasing her commute from 3km to 20km with most of it being on Deerfoot.

Her current commuter is an X3 35i, so we're looking to augment that with something that's cheaper to operate (regular gas, cheaper maintenance), will depreciate less with the increased mileage, and that we can generally care less about getting rock chips, etc.

No budget in mind, 2-4 years used preferred (or certified pre-owned), low total cost of ownership is the primary deciding factor.

Must-have:
AWD, will be paired with winter tires (this rules out a lot of cars)

Nice to have:
Leather heated seats & steering wheel
Back-up cameras/sensors
Remote starter

[TomcoPDR]

Subaru sedan lines? Legacy, Forester, Impreza

[Nismorphed]

There is a ralliart lance for sale that would be a good vehicle, im sure those are awd

[ExtraSlow]

Adding another vehicle to the fleet isn't going to save you money, just put the miles on that X3.

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Also 40km per workday isn't that long of a commute.

[03ozwhip]

I use a little Honda civic as a commuter but I drive over 100kms a day. You really don't need a commuter car for 40 kms a day.

It will be a huge waste of money getting anything worth more than a few grand as it will likely not save anything in the long run. Have you done the math?

[Xtrema]

Unless that X3 is leased and has limited mileage you are going to go over, just use it.

If you pick a time when traffic is light, all those miles will be highway miles and should be easy on the gas.

It's not like mileage really matter much anyway on a BMW. It's going depreciate more on age than mileage, so you lose as much $ without enjoying it.

Now if you are selling the X3 and switching to something more sensible, can't go wrong with Murano/CR-V/Highlander. Minimum depreciation, good highway mileage.

[Gman.45]

As said the entire Supeedoo line is worth checking out, however if you are looking at lower costs and a less expensive vehicle, I have a specific one I'd recommend.

Nissan Juke. You can get the AWD variant with either a CVT or 6 speed manual. It's a fantastic little unit for winter driving, my neighbor has one here in SK with winter studded tires on it, and it's as surefooted as any Subaru I've even driven or driven in. It's small and fits in any parking space easily, yet has just enough room to not be cramped, plus with the seats down being a mini SUV/hatch, tons of cargo room for its size. The AWD variants come with a bit more power, which = a bit less economy, but it's still well within an acceptable range for a commuting vehicle, especially an AWD one, as I'm sure the OP realizes that AWD is never going to be a 45 or even 40mpg vehicle running Deerfoot daily.

The AWD Juke (I think it's the SL trim that is AWD) does come with leather option interior, I know it has a rear view camera from my neighbors when I've ridden in it, but I don't think it has remote start - it's a push button starter, I think you could find an aftermarket remote which usually works better range wise than the factory stuff anyway.

That's what I'd look at first and see if it fits your requirements OP. There are a number for sale online in that 2 to 4 year used range you're looking for, mostly in the 12 to 16$k range for the AWD/Nismo units from what I see. That'd be a lot cheaper to operate than the BMW, although a step or two down in terms of the overall vehicle IMO.

[ShermanEF9]

you're not really saving anything by buying another vehicle you have to put gas into, insure, maintain, etc. for 40km a day...

[Nufy]

Today Only...

[danno]

i'm using a golf r for a 70km round trip daily. sitting at 36k km now. works great has everything you want other than remote start.
i'll most likely be selling it though as i get the wife a minivan.

[GTS Jeff]

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Wife's office is moving to the south, increasing her commute from 3km to 20km with most of it being on Deerfoot.

Her current commuter is an X3 35i, so we're looking to augment that with something that's cheaper to operate (regular gas, cheaper maintenance), will depreciate less with the increased mileage, and that we can generally care less about getting rock chips, etc.

No budget in mind, 2-4 years used preferred (or certified pre-owned), low total cost of ownership is the primary deciding factor.

Must-have:
AWD, will be paired with winter tires (this rules out a lot of cars)

Nice to have:
Leather heated seats & steering wheel
Back-up cameras/sensors
Remote starter

I think the X3 is about perfect for what you are describing. As far as AWD cars go, it is miles above any Subaru or Audi in my own experience. See my post in the list of cars thread to put that into perspective. The combination of x-drive, clearance (there is a surprising amount considering the ride height,) and "subtle" stability intervention makes this car probably the most wife-friendly vehicle I've owned. The cost of gas isn't much a concern because the N55 is quite efficient when driven wife-style. For the rock chips, buy a wife-pen, aka. touch up paint pen.

The only thing is the depreciation, the depreciation's a real bitch if you start miling it out with trips out of the city to stables on a semi-regular basis.

[Thaco]

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Today Only...

when i read the subject i thought the same thing, only

[NissanFanBoy]

+1 for Juke... My wife drives one year round on DF, SL AWD paired with almost new X-Ices... My current winter ride Airdrie to downtown everyday is an 09 G37X coupe with Blizzaks... Only complaint is it sucks on gas, 12.5 L per 100 km and that's with premium gas. AWD, 330 hp plus a traditional 7 speed auto doesn't help gas mileage.

[Strider]

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you're not really saving anything by buying another vehicle you have to put gas into, insure, maintain, etc. for 40km a day...

The only incremental cost would be insurance and depreciation. The gas and maintenance would theoretically be a net gain, as she would be putting the miles on a car that uses less and cheaper fuel, and requires less expensive maintenance. I figure we'll save roughly $250/year just switching from premium to regular. Dropping from 15L/100km to 10L/100km would save another $400/year.
Then there's shit like $600 for rear brakes at 35,000km, $1250 for a water pump at 60,000km.

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I think the X3 is about perfect for what you are describing. As far as AWD cars go, it is miles above any Subaru or Audi in my own experience. See my post in the list of cars thread to put that into perspective. The combination of x-drive, clearance (there is a surprising amount considering the ride height,) and "subtle" stability intervention makes this car probably the most wife-friendly vehicle I've owned. The cost of gas isn't much a concern because the N55 is quite efficient when driven wife-style. For the rock chips, buy a wife-pen, aka. touch up paint pen.

The only thing is the depreciation, the depreciation's a real bitch if you start miling it out with trips out of the city to stables on a semi-regular basis.

It is a perfect car for her. We've owned it for 6 years and put on 65k km, but typically there's a steep drop in value around100k km and I probably wouldn't want to keep it much longer after that... would be nice not to worry about that for a while longer.

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i'm using a golf r for a 70km round trip daily. sitting at 36k km now. works great has everything you want other than remote start.
i'll most likely be selling it though as i get the wife a minivan.

Golf R would be at the top of my list, but it takes premium and I can't imagine maintenance being Honda/Toyota cheap.

I'll look into Subarus a bit more. It was the first brand that came to mind for ticking the awd box, but I don't know how they depreciate or the reliability/cost of ownership.
Will also look into the Juke. It's unfortunate that they're so damn ugly.
I know with something like a CR-V, if I find the right deal I could go about a year without depreciation, and fairly slow depreciation after that... but CR-Vs just do nothing for me.

[ExtraSlow]

Now you are paying depreciation on two vehicles instead of one. Plus you'll pay gst on the new acquisition.

No, you don't come out ahead.

[ShermanEF9]

Also, your math is correct assuming you NEVER drove the BMW again. you also did not factor insurance/registration/blah blah, or the cost of the vehicle. a lot of gas can be bought for ~12k

you never buy cars to retain value. doing that is just silly. if you're looking to save money, sell the bmw.

[dirtsniffer]

Cvt transmissions suck. Seriously no joy.

Keeping the x3 is likely the most economical solution

[Crazyjoker77]

Has something changed on the jukes? When I was looking at them in 2013 it was either FWD with manual or the turbo AWD with the CVT which ended up being a dealbreaker for me....

[Mitsu3000gt]

What about a newer Honda CRV? Keeps her in a SUV, cheap to buy, has every feature you want, and is very cheap to own/maintain. Great resale value & longevity. The new ones with the 1.5T are awesome vehicles for the price, have a much improved AWD system, and you can easily get them around $30K with all the options you want if you decide on new as well. If you are dead set on used, the older CRV's are definitely less interesting but are still pretty much ideal for what you want (cheap, reliable, good resale).

[NissanFanBoy]

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Has something changed on the jukes? When I was looking at them in 2013 it was either FWD with manual or the turbo AWD with the CVT which ended up being a dealbreaker for me....

Never had AWD with manual, it's also discontinued as of this year. Kind of a head scratcher, half of the population thinks it's ugly but Nissan ended up selling A LOT of these, especially in Europe.

I can confirm though, that the CVT sucks, also the turbo lag off the line is annoying because it's based on a little 1.6 litre engine, it just feels slow as hell until that turbo kicks in, not if you're not "car guy" you wouldn't notice anything different.