A few weeks ago I went to the San Diego International Auto Show with my father and my son to kick some tires and see if anything wowed me. We looked at the “green area” and there wasn’t much exciting there. To keep my son entertained, we went to Camp Jeep, rode in a Jeep Renegade on their indoor course and my soon climbed a rock wall. Unfortunately (for my car looking), this was the highlight of the trip.
We went by the Audi booth and didn’t see the A3 e-Tron which was quite disappointing. Where is Audi’s commitment to the car if they didn’t bother showcasing it? We took a look at Acura and Lexus as well. The Acura RDX which I’ve been eyeing for 9 years is a nice looking car, but man the gas mileage kills me. The Lexus CT200h caught my eye because of the excellent gas mileage, but the overall look isn’t enough for me to bite.
I’ve decided that the best choice for me right now is to stick with my 2003 Toyota Highlander. I’m going to keep my out for Apple to update it’s list of cars supporting CarPlay and keep re-evaluating. This whole process has kind of honed in what I want in a new car:
- CarPlay – This may seem a bit like I am an Apple fan boy (OK, I am), but not having to update maps and having an interface that can get updated interests me.
- Decent gas mileage – This either means a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid at the moment. I’m not ready for a pure electric car; we may consider one for my wife’s next car and have my car which is driven less as one that consumes gas.
- Semi-luxurious interior – At the car show, I sat in a lot of cars. The leather in Acura, Audi, and Lexus cars seemed much nicer than that of say the Subaru and the whole cabin just seemed better put together (hard to describe, but felt nicer). I’m not saying I want a Mercedes or a Ferrari interior, just a step up from a Ford.
- Decent looks
So I’ll wait and see what 2017 models are released and see if anything catches my eye. Kind of a let down as I’ve been looking forward to a new car for awhile; however, it is the right choice to do nothing.
What mileage does your current car get?
It averages about 20 miles per gallon. I’d like to get close to double that not so much as to save money, but to save gas.
I drive a 2014 Volkswagen Polo GTI and it averages 33 mpg. Runs on 98 octane gas. I don’t if that vehicle is available in the US but they’re very popular here in Australia.
There are no Toyotas on the Apple CarPlay support list. And remember seeing that Toyota recently announced a plan to standardize on a different mobile device interface. Seems kinda crazy not support CarPlay (along with other major systems).
I’d hope that Toyota would support it, but who knows what they’ll do!
Good choice. Keep the Toyota until it dies. I have a 1988 Corolla that my son takes to college daily. It does get 30+ mpg but with gas < $1.80 a gallon even 20mpg is affordable.