vader1

I can relate to that. I have a specialty shop that charges lower than the dealer for oil changes, and they are still $300 on the Cayman. I think they are $200 on the Macan but I will do those myself as it is easier. Are the prices for a catastrophe fear inducing? Yeah absolutely. But I have had a half dozen cars that I read about some "super common" issue I read about on the internet that would make the car explode that I thought I should dump the car before it happened to me. I don't keep cars that long but I have never had a major issue with anything. (knock on wood) I had a 2024 Macan 4 popper loaner for a week from the dealer and I am convinced they are one of the best deals going on the used market. They are not fast, but just really nice inside, ride is supreme and they have a little more panache that a Rav4. They are a joke at $60k but on the used market with a few miles they are sub $30k for the four cylinder which is a GTI engine and people get over 150,000 miles fairly regularly without problem. The engine is boring, but so are nearly all 4 cylinder CUVs. I don't drive mine hard so the four would have probably been just fine for me and I saw cars with 20,000 miles for $27k all day long, and that car is far superior to a CRV to drive every day, and you won't have to give a rip if something spills in the back seat, and get your oil changed at the local chain oil place.

I will probably use mine for CUV/weather/road trip stuff in the future and drop a tune on it. Does that scare me? A bit. I have a friend who was up to his eyeballs in debt years ago and I asked him how he slept at night, he shrugged and said "Life is full of payments." He and his wife grew up in a trailer park and wanted to let themselves have a couple things in life. I think about that when I am not letting myself have enough fun and putting too much into savings and being miserly. Sometimes you just have to not worry, take care of maintenance and have fun. That guy is a million + per year CEO of a small municipal bond firm now.

TheDonEffect

Totally, all sounds points. I mean, I unloaded my GT350 because of the engine issues, and those cars sky rocketed in value and you don't see a ton of posts of engines blowing up anymore. Thing is though, perception is reality, but the reality in this case is that alot of GT350s have become garage queens. I have a theory about cars reliability, for alot of them, they seem to get more reliable over time. Some people attribute that to parts pricing coming back down to earth (always most expensive right at launch), or that fixes get developed. My theory is that they eventually fall into the hands of loving, forgiving enthusiasts. For instance, talk to any Jaguar enthusiast and you'd swear that they're Toyota Corolla reliable, and you definitely see alot more old XJs on the road than say... a 90s Ford Taurus or F150, or even a Toyota Tercel which way outsold those old Jags, so the perception could be well those are just as reliable when really they're not.

And it's only a fair comparison to compare used to used, because in that scenerio especially with prices coming back down to earth, the math still goes against the Macan.

But you're right in that with the right amount of research you can definitely find some bargains in the used market that should be problem free for the most part, like the Macan you mentioned. Thing is though, I don't see them as bargains as much as I think they were overpriced to begin with; there's usually a reason why things depreciate.

I dunno, going from a 180hp CRV to a 261hp Macan to me is not going to make doing errands and such that much more enjoyable. The luxury aspects sure, I have learned to adopt different driving styles based on what I'm driving, if I'm driving a minivan I'm not going to fixate on it being slow, instead I'll fixate on how convenient it was to carry all the crap/people I needed to and just chill, just like I wouldn't fixate the lack of cargo space in a two seat sports car. Don't get me wrong, one of the reasons why I unloaded the ND2 was because of the lack of practicality, but I think the WRX and GRC bridged the gap enough. I don't see a Macan base even being in the same continent to bridge anything.

I've had this discussion alot, always seems to surround the Macan, and here's sorta my opinion/hot take on this- I think the reason why people seem to like the Macan is that it seems to be the only "cool" CUV for dudes. Because if you think about it, why not just get a Lexus CUV? They have similar power, just as luxurious if not better, and will definitely be better in the long run. Because that's the go to car for every 30-40 something year old female, I could be get more specific but I'll avoid that for now. It's much like the Jetta GLI vs Golf GTI, dudes just don't buy Jettas. People always need to be told what's cool, just like how now wearing baggier clothes is suddenly acceptable again, when it wasn't that long ago it made you look like a slob, but now hey it makes you look young. Smh.

Fact of the matter is, all CUVs are not cool, stop. Wanna know what made pickup trucks cool? It wasn't the obnoxiously expensive fast ones, or crazy off road builds in showroom detailed condition, it was just dudes not giving AF what others thought and went about their business fully utilizing their trucks. CUVs are the same, use them for what they were intended to do, they're supposed to take away limitations like being able to do some offroad work, save money on gas so you can go further, have utility to carry stuff. They weren't meant to make you not miss having a sportscar, or remember a time before you had one too many kids, etc.

My friends then point out why do I geek out when I see an old CRV with a Vtec head swap, or a Forester that's all STIed out. I say I respect the work the owner put into it, presumably it was built out of some sort of necessity, but if you notice I have zero ambition to owning one.

Give me a CRV and a Miata every time. If only one? Some sort of hot hatch or practical coupe.