On Monday July 27, 2015, out 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara suffered a blown head gasket, leaving Noel stranded in the Phoenix heat. After several cycles of letting it cool and limping it further towards our favorite auto repair facility, the given estimates to repair it were more than the car was worth. Advice from friends suggested that replacing it with a newer model would be more prudent. Noel quickly rented a car to continue with her Real Estate responsibilities and waited for my return from MN on Friday. Fortunately we had spent a day together a month prior to this, just having fun looking at what cars were out there that we liked, so we already had some crossed off the list of potential prospects.

Noel had been driving a lot recently, doing her showings, some 60 miles or more from home. Some of these properties could almost be classified as rural, on dirt roads (sometimes 15 miles of dirt) that Google maps doesn't even show a street name for, making it difficult to find with printed text directions. So a Navigation system is a high priority for Noel and ever since I installed the one in our Suzuki in 2007, we concurred that all cars that will be used in unfamiliar territory should have a Nav system, not only for convenience, but safety and reduction of frustration from getting lost). Although cell phones have several mapping apps, the screens are small, the speakers have inadequate volume, and constant use requires a larger data plan. Some of the dirt roads would be suspect for a non off-road vehicle, but SUVs come at a premium price and get a substantially lower MPG rate, so a SUV would be a greater burden to the budget. Since she also drives in urban traffic, an automatic transmission is a life saver to the left foot when stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Since there's a good chance that this would be our only car, I would also like to be able to easily put a bicycle in it, preferably from the rear.

Noel had done some car shopping Thursday.
She found a used full size used 2013 Prius, 33399 miles, $18,518. She felt cramped and had trouble getting good vision out of it. She also sat in a Prius-C, but felt there were too many blind spots to drive safely. We've become accustomed to an SUV, so while there she checked out a used 2013 Toyota Venza, 29331 miles, $26,819 with Navigation, which she loved, but of course it was getting pricey again. She also glanced at the higher priced Toyota Highlander, but it is way too big.

So we headed off to the Tempe AutoPlex directly from the airport on my return on Friday. We cruised past the Volvo, Lexus, and Cooper lots, the last two which we had visited before and not found anything to our liking within a reasonable budget. First stop was the Mazda dealer. They had a nice used 2014 CX-5 with 33,250 miles on it with Navigation for $23,991. This is the small SUV from Mazda. She liked that one as well, but the price was still higher than the goals for now.




We also looked at the Mazda 5 hatch back, but it was small, pricey (mid $20k starting (for new) and then $3k for Nav) and they did not have any used ones in stock with Navigation.

We jumped across the street to the used lot of the Nissan dealership and cruised past many brands, not finding anything that looked right and all the prices were above $20k. The Nissan lineup was very ugly, so we didn't bother to look at their new cars and my Dad and I had checked out Nissan's together while we spent time together in SC the week before the breakdown.

Just up the road was the Hyundai lot, which we had been to before. They had many used cars up front with prices much lower than we'd seen in the other lots, so we couldn't resist pulling in to look at their used cars. We looked at their smallest SUV, the Tucson, but again they were in the upper $20k for used models and she felt uncomfortable in them. We looked at some sedans, but it was impossible to fit a bicycle in the trunk, thus requiring shoving a bike in the back passenger door every time and putting it on the seat (which is what I did the week before in SC with the Chrysler 200 rental). Many had seats that could fold forward, but the small trunk lid would make it difficult to shoehorn a bike in from the rear. So we crossed off sedans. Hatch backs or SUVs seemed to be the way to go, though all the SUVs we were finding were quite pricey.

Of course we stumbled across some Hyundai Veloster again, which really intrigued us when we first stumbled across it previously. The rear opens up like a hatch back and allows big access to loading from the spacious rear area when the rear seats are folded forward, although there is about a 6 inch drop from the edge of the opening to the floor of the back. The Turbo gets 31 mpg on the highway and has much more horsepower than the standard Veloster. When I had looked up used Velosters on-line, I was only able to find manual transmissions, but they had two used models with automatics. One was a 2013 Turbo Veloster with 17,711 miles for $17,994 and it had Navigation too.



The dealer also had a $2500 rebate currently running on new 2015 models and this same car new would be $23,610 with that rebate and an AutoNation savings discount of $1126.

A few cars down was a standard 2012 Veloster with 37,639 miles for $15,494 and it also had an automatic transmission and navigation; it had been marked down; it had just been marked down from $18,598 to try to move it off the lot more quickly, since it had been on the lot for over a month. The standard Veloster gets 37 mpg on the highway and this one had more bells and whistles than the used turbo, including a backup camera (my last two accidents were from backing up). It also included an electric moon roof and sun-shade, which Noel gets a kick out of, but is not a feature I crave due to the lack of natural sun protection on the top of my head. The silver color was not one of our favorites, but would not be a deal breaker. The 2015 new model of the same features with the $2500 rebate would be $21,990 and we could get a more favorable color (e.g. Pearl White).





So we took a test drive in it. The steering feeling was definitely of the more sportier variety, giving a solid connection feeling. When I had read reviews on this vehicle, they had mentioned that it had a stiff suspension, so I was surprised at how smoothly it took the bumps, although you still had a solid feeling to the road. Although the engine is small, it didn't sound cheap, but had a nice throaty sound to it. It has a little bit of road noise, but that's common is small cars (one nice thing the larger SUVs have an advantage with). It was fun for her to drive, the seats were greatly adjustable to reduce crippling pressures and wonderfully cupped on the sides to keep you securely seated when taking corners. This vehicle had cloth seats too (the Turbo had black leather, which gets impossibly hot in the summer). The Nav system can be voice activated, so you just talk to it to give it addresses. The vehicle can also be started remotely, so one could get the AC up and running long before you get to the car so it's already comfortable when you get in, such as returning from a shopping mall. It was in very good shape, both inside and out and we also got the CarFax report, showing it had been owned by one owner from the same dealership and he had done religious maintenance at the proper intervals (9 total oil changes). Being a certified used car from Hyundai, they give it a 10 year / 100,000 mile warranty (which is from the original odometer and purchase date) on the engine and drive train. It can also subscribe to two services of $98/yr and $78/yr for Blue Link and Remote Access (GPS location when stolen, remote start via mobile app, remote lock via mobile app, Stolen vehicle Recover for law enforcement, automatic notification to Hyundai when involved in a collision, SOS button for help, scheduled car care, and a Monthly vehicle health report emailed concerning key performance systems.

Noel was busy all day Saturday doing showings. There were more vehicles to review, but we both felt comfortable with the 2012 Veloster and thought it would be a good compromise of features and value and we didn't like the accruing expense of the rental.

I checked with my insurance company and our rate goes up only $19/month compared to our old Suzuki, more in collision, but less in liability.

Hyundai 2012 Veloster

Suzuki 2003 Grand Vitara

Hyundai 2015 Veloster

Space Veloster Home page