It’s time to get the wife a new vehicle. After ten years she is tired of the minivan. My number one requirement is she gets exactly what she wants, because she will have it for the next 8 years or so, and everyone knows the importance of a happy wife. After looking at various 3rd row suv options, her favorite is the buick enclave, GM’s lambda crossover and sister to the GMC Acadia and Chevy Traverse. We were getting close to pulling the trigger when a mechanic buddy of mine told me they had worked on several that had power steering pump failures. Not only do you get to swap out the pump and possibly steering rack, the replacements don’t seem to hold up real well either, and one they had done 3 times by 100k miles. Even worse is that at it can lose power steering randomly and suddenly while driving, which isn’t exactly safe. Anybody know how frequent this problem is? Any other feedback on these cars? Ideally she wants a 3rd row crossover, fwd, bucket seats in the second row, and ability to tow my race car (4000 lbs).
We have looked at the new pathfinder, and found it not near as nice as the buick, the Hyundai santa fe was actually the second favorite. Any other suggested vehicles?
