Our first family hauler

Welp,

Last June we got a 3rd dog.
Our pups:
-Mazzie- 5 year old girl, 45lb
-Stormi- turns 3 in May, 30lb
-Brewer- Turns 1 on Thursday, 90lb and growing still.

And once Brewer was past 4 months, fitting all 3 in the back of a civic si or the back of my gen pu (with the back seats down) was not possible safely.

So we had to drive 2 cars any time we took the pups out for a hike, to breweries, etc.

Soon after, we started researching midsize 3 row suv's (as practical as vans are, we don't want one).

Test drove a Honda pilot in November and put a deposit down. Car arrived late December and wasn't spec'd how we wanted and dealership tried adding markup. So we walked.

We also considered the mazda cx90 and toyota grand highlander.

Fast forward to this past Monday... Michelle and I go work out, and then head to Costco to do some grocery shopping. On the way to Costco, we pass the mazda and toyota dealership and both have trucks unloading new inventory. Decided to put off grocery shopping and headed to mazda.

Test drove a cx90 3.3 premium plus.
Interior was nice and quite fancy.
Transmission...oof. wet clutch setup and what I assume to be terrible programming makes for very awkward and slow takeoffs from a stop. Once over 30mph, the inline6 feels alive and the thing actually handles quite well, aside from a harsher ride. 3rd row was smaller than the pilot and I wouldn't want to put an adult back there for more than a 10 min ride. Maybe give em a few years to refine this thing, but the test drive plus all the issues being reported with the 48v mild hybrid and other nagging things, we moved onto the toyota lot next door.

They just unloaded a Coastal Cream Grand highlander hybrid XLE awd.
The hybrid max versions we knew would be closer to 60k so we particularly wanted an awd hybrid as those could be had for high 40/low 50k range.
We Test drove it, it didn't feel underpowered being an NA 2.5L with 2 electric motors. Comfy enough ride, huge storage with all the rear seats down (97 cubic ft), and a usable 3rd row for adults when hauling friends and family around. So we sat down and talked numbers. They gave Michelle excellent trade in on her 2020 civic si with 90k miles. And actually were willing to come down off msrp as we did want some dealer installed options.

Ended up adding a tow hitch + wiring, all weather floor mats, puddle lights, illuminated door sills, blackout rear emblems.

Ended up getting the car at basically MSRP with the add-ons and 20k for the civic on trade-in.

With this being Michelle's daily driver and also our dog hauler/road trip car, it was nice to get something that not only was big, but also won't break the bank on gas.



As far as gas mileage goes, I filled the car up today after the first 283 miles. The dash calculation estimate said 32.5mpg, hand calculation says it did 35+!


There is a known software "bug" with all the grand highlanders. I filled the tank with 1/4 tank reported on the fuel gauge. The tank is 17.2 gallons and it took just shy of 8 gallons.

Most people are reporting the low fuel light comes on with more than 5 gallons left in the tank. And if you drive it to 0 miles remaining, you can only pump 11-12 gallons into the tank.

People have also been experimenting and driving 100 miles past "0 miles till empty" and having no issues being low on fuel and filling 14.xx gallons at that point.

I will say I was shocked that with a full tank, the car shows 393 mile range. And knowing it's a 17.2 gallon tank with epa ratings of 36 city/32hwy should result in much more than that, so definitely a issue with how they calculate the fuel level...or toyota is just leaving 5gal in the reserve for their own peace of mind lol.


Anyways, I'll post updates in here from time to time with our experiences with this boat, and anything notable that may come up!

Pics of the dogs for tax



We bought a house for Mazzie, so she would have room to run around. And bought an suv for Brewer so we can take the pups and luggage/camping gear anywhere. Dogs are expensive...and there may be kids added to the mix in the future

 

Congratulations on adulting. Time to add the stick figure family on the back window.