This post begins our search for the perfect tayteemobile — the type of vehicle driven by your resident taytee. Over the following weeks, we will explore different vehicles and price points, and we will see whether anything can replace this magnificence:
Search Process and Assumptions
Every week, we will explore a new vehicle, or dive deeper into previously-explored ones. This will avoid eating up too much time on the search all at once, and will help us gradually build up an idea of what the market is like.
I haven’t received direct input on which to base a search, but I think that I can safely make the following assumptions:
- The vehicle needs to have good cargo space.
- The vehicle needs to be able to sit seven people, though it will usually carry at most five.
- The vehicle needs to have a high seating position — it needs to be an SUV or van.
When it comes to money, I will explore price points below $25,000. I don’t really have a sense of what the budget is, so I will try and find multiple options under that cap each week.
This Week’s Vehicle: Toyota Highlander
The Toyota Highlander is an excellent car to buy used, if you can find one at a good price. Consumer Reports shows high owner satisfaction and very high reliability ratings from 2011 to 2019 (2020 and newer models seem to have more issues though are not poor).
I am not sure whether it’s standard or an extra, but you can find Highlanders that can fit 7 people. You won’t have much cargo room when the third row is up, so a van will be a better choice if the car will regularly carry large loads and 7 people at the same time. Personally, I think having lots of cargo and people will be rare.
In Minnesota, I’m seeing the following models (Carvana has a slick site for online viewing):
- $19,000–$22,000. Year: 2014–2015, Mileage: ~120–137k miles, mid-nice trim, all-wheel drive, V6 engine. Option 1. Option 2. Option 3. Option 4. Option 5. Carvana with fewer miles but a bit more $$$.
- $16,500. Year: 2013, Mileage: 140-145k miles, nice trim, all-wheel drive, V6 engine. Option 1. Option 2. At first I thought something was up because the price feels low, but there are multiple options. So the price drop could be from the higher mileage.
- $16,500. Year: 2012, Mileage: 118k miles, nice trim, all-wheel drive, V6 engine. Link. One year older than the previous but same price and lower miles. Why? Because in 2013 Toyota introduced a new generation of the car. Before 2013, the Toyota Highlander was the same car since 2007 with a moderate update in 2010.
That concludes Week 1 of the search.