Hello from SoCal.
We are new to the USA both having bought CPO cars (Acura MDX and Nissan Altima) when we arrived a few years ago.

We are about to buy our first new car and have been looking for a smaller SUV with better MPG than the MDX.

yesterday we drove the Honda CRV, Ford Escape, Mazda CX5 and the 4 cylinder Chev Equinox.
By far the Equinox felt the most solidly built and best appointed.

What is making us a little nervous are the reliability issues often reported with the Chev brand and USA cars in general as opposed to the Japanese equivalents. We get the feeling that they are trying their best to get back into the game with very good deals but have yet to prove the reliability of products coming out of the newly bailed out GM. There also appears to be a lot of questions being asked about the competence of the management at GM.

Naturally on a forum one usually finds the horror stories rather than the good ones.

What can the experts here tell us to put our mind at ease?

What can I get the dealer to include to put our mind at ease?
eg. extended warranty etc.
What else is good to negotiate as part of the sale eg. free servicing for a period, loan vehicles, complimentary accessories etc. etc.

Many thanks.

 

Welcome to the site Streak, thanks for joining us!

 

The Equinox comes with a great factory warranty, and the dealer can definitely include an extended warranty in your monthly payments. You can certainly negotiate with your dealer on anything under the sun, but these days dealers don't have as much profit margin as they used to. Where are you located?

 

We are in San Diego.

 

Toyota HIGHLANDER is worth looking at.

 

The highlander does not have great gas mileage even with their 4 cylinder engine.
Also, we already have the MDX so want something smaller and more economical to run.

 

It's hard to make 2-3 ton trucks economical.