off to get an Enclave

Like the Chinese, my Mother likes Buick. Her first real car was a buick and she had stayed with them all these years. Her 2003 Redezvous is finally showing it's age and has been diagnosed with a blown head gasket on the back cylinder. An expensive repair at the best of times, but as she no longer trusts the car, she fears what would break next.

I talked her into going with me to go look at a lightly used 2016 Enclave at the local used car dealership (not a dirt lot, but a real dealership) tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Good luck 

Why not a Tour X? 

I agree with trying to find a preowned TourX.

But the Enclave is a great car from that year. She is going to transition into a new world of computerized car stuff so hopefully she enjoys learning that new stuff. 

while I prefer wagons, and I think the Tour X is a great looking car. She has some health issues that necessitate a taller vehicle. It's not that she cannot physically move, she is good in that department. She literally has no sense of balance. The part of your ears that determines balance does not work for her, so she has to "key" off of things to keep from becoming unbalanced. This also means she cannot move her head quickly, lest she become dizzy. At taller vehicle allows her to see further and safer.

Thankfully she acknowledges her problems and does what she can to mitigate them, including not driving at night or in low light situations, she also does her best not to make a left across traffic if she can at all avoid it. She will be 74 this year and I want her to keep her independence as long as she can. As it is now, she will not take her car anywhere unless I am availible to come get her if it fails -again

In reply to mad_machine :

Your mother has done well to raise a son like you who helps her with stuff like this. As for Buicks, I worked a GM event a while back, and got to drive some of their new cars. A Buick Enclave is a safe, quiet, roomy, comfortable vehicle with a lot of nice features. Sounds like a good choice for her. 

Timing chain 3.6?  might look into complaints on that for the year. Then again, at her age,  she probably doesn't drive much and wont pile on enough miles to worry about it. 

In reply to mad_machine :

Cool so does the 2016 have all the new fancy stuff?

1. Emergency Stop Assist
2. Lane assist
3. Lane Change assist
4. Reverse cross traffic alert
5. Parking assist

I am getting used to all this stuff on my new 19 Chrysler Pacifica. If you stay alert is adds good additional information. It won't replace the joys of driving my evo but it is interesting tech if done right. 

I also recently drove a Kia that has their higher intrusion level lane keep assist and it is basically autonomous steering above 37Mph. Just keep your hands on the wheel and it steered me the 40 miles of swooping two lane road perfectly centered. 

My mom just got a new lease Cadillac and it unfortunately didn't have all of the fancy features of her previous Cadillac. So she is more anxious now as she drove clipped a wall in a parking lot recently in her old lease car. 

Real talk:

Have you set a threshold where you will think of the rest of the community and take her keys? If not, please do. The time WILL come. 

I already have goosebumps from your description of her sense of balance. Only you are in a position to notice and act when it gets too far. The feeling of autonomy is not worth the feeling of killing someone, as my grandparent discovered. I hesitate to post this, but the pain it caused was immesurable for us, and worse for the other family. In any case, I wish you best of luck with your search. 

Nugi said:

Real talk:

Have you set a threshold where you will think of the rest of the community and take her keys? If not, please do. The time WILL come. 

I already have goosebumps from your description of her sense of balance. Only you are in a position to notice and act when it gets too far. The feeling of autonomy is not worth the feeling of killing someone, as my grandparent discovered. I hesitate to post this, but the pain it caused was immesurable for us, and worse for the other family. In any case, I wish you best of luck with your search. 

She is very cognizant that the day is coming. As it is now, she only does one "long" trip a week (about 10 miles) where she volunteers at the local art's league. The rest is very local driving to and from the store and such. I come over once a week and take her out shopping for food, books, clothes and stuff as those places are located in areas with lots of fast moving and aggressive drivers. She does not have the ego my Father has when it comes to driving, I dread the day I try to take his keys.

well, we got it. 2016 Enclave with 23,000 miles on it. Only $15,000ish

That's a good looking CUV

Those are extremely popular in my corner of PA.  

So when does your challenge build thread for her old Rendezvous start? 

for what she got for the trade in, I would have had only 2500 to do anything. 

mad_machine said:

well, we got it. 2016 Enclave with 23,000 miles on it. Only $15,000ish

 

What is your sense of feeling 'safe ' in this should the inevitable (collision) happen???? 

I would rate higher than her creaky old Rendezvous. Better crumple zones, more air bags, and better proactive measures like the back up camera. It also has much better brakes and a much less wallowy ride. 

I knew  about the pillow fight .....really curious about the vehicle 'dynamics' ....thanks and safe travels for MOM!! 

$15k can buy a lot of Uber rides. My Dad uses Uber 100% and does not own a car anymore. It works for him, won’t work for everyone, but it’s a solution no one thinks of. 

Isn't that an Encore?  The Enclave is the big SUV.  My MIL just got a 2019 Encore, and it is a nice little SUV.

sorry, yes. It is an Encore. I am not sure why I got it all confused. 

Couldn't possibly be all of their SUVs starting with "En" (Encore, Encore GX, Envision, Enclave).  If not for Envision they would all start with "Enc".  You are excused.

Almost as bad as Volt and Bolt.