Maintenance for the 2013/14

[h0mersimps0n]

I have to admit my head is spinning a little bit trying to figure out which SUV I want.

One thing is for sure, I put waaaay to many miles on my vehicles to go Luxury (again). I made the mistake of buying a 2012 X3 35i which I fell deeply, madly in love with (god I love German vehicles) but I put 25k miles/year on it and am now staring down $7000 in tires, warranty/maintenance extensions to keep it on the road beyond 50k miles.

I also own a 2012 Golf TDI (I completely maintain myself) and a 2011 Kia Sorento (also completely fully maintained by me).

The X3 is not a vehicle I feel comfortable maintaining myself and my wife and I are putting almost 20-25k miles/year on all three vehicles (yes, we drive that much)

SO- to get to my point - I'm looking for a great ride, great gas mileage (where the Explorer falls shortest) 3rd row reasonable SUV that I can maintain myself entirely (lets just say oil changes, filters, brakes, etc). It has to be SUV because my wife and I both have jobs we MUST get to no matter what the weather (ok, we're docs).

Is the newest Explorer line something maintainable by the common man or are highly specialized tools/skills required to maintain this vehicle?

I find myself pricing out an Explorer at $51k by the time I get what I want in it and still am having a hard time justifying the tag if I'm still doing 20k/year on it - thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[SWEET ST]

How about a helicopter...lol

 

[alexk]

Maintenance is something you can do yourself on the explorer fairly easily. If you can manage the Kia, the explorer shouldn't be a problem. If your worried about spending $50k on something your putting that many miles on why not lease it? I have 19,500 miles a year on my lease and you can go up to 25,000 miles with a ford lease. This way after your 2 or 3 years you just give the car back and don't have to worry about anything, it should be cheaper than buying and having to resell after a few years with all the miles on it.