Safe car for skiing and kids to drive

[dovski]

After month of looking we finally pulled the trigger on that extra ski car that the kids will also drive. This has taken a lot more effort than I ever imagined. Used cars are selling for more than new cars, new cars are being sold before they even leave the factory, and some dealerships are taking advantage of this situation in a big way with "market adjustments". Simply put crazy time to be buying a car, so if you can wait a year or two do so. That said we were finally able to secure find a new car and buy it without paying any market adjustments or having to buy some "mandatory" dealership add ons. We ended up getting a 2022 Rav-4 XSE Hybrid. Now that said this car will not even be built by the factory until mid Jan, which means if we are lucky we should have it by mid Feb. Test drives and haggling over price went out the window as there were not cars to test drive, and just securing one at MSRP was a challenge as many dealerships are adding anywhere from$5K to $10K in market adjustments to the actual sale price. Even with that there really is little to no inventory. Once the car arrives I will post some pictures.

 

[raytseng]

Congrats,

If you need a roof skibox/skirack; due to supply chain you may potentially want to start looking for that now. I believe the Rav4 rear seat is 60/40 split so you can't seat 4ppl + skis.

Also tires if you want to change to better tire that have better snow performance and potentially get some money back selling the OEM "take-offs", that is a deal you can negotiate at delivery to get it done in 1 shot.

 

[dovski]

Congrats,

If you need a roof skibox/skirack; due to supply chain you may potentially want to start looking for that now. I believe the Rav4 rear seat is 60/40 split so you can't seat 4ppl + skis.

Also tires if you want to change to better tire that have better snow performance and potentially get some money back selling the OEM "take-offs", that is a deal you can negotiate at delivery to get it done in 1 shot.

Great call on the tires, was planning to ask them to put on Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires which is what we have on our MDX. Great tire for the Seattle area with a snowflake rating

As for ski box we will probably just stick with the Inno Box we have as I know it will fit on the Rav-4.

Either way we have a few months before we need to worry about this as the car will not be built until later in Jan and delivery is sometime in Feb.

 

[AtleB]

Life is hard. Lifting a receiver and pushing real buttons on phones, turning knobs on radios, loading a camera with film and only having 36 shots, fish hooks in shifting hands, no cup holders in the car!

Your “friend” found out it’s not that hard to shift with the left hand.

True, and its really not a problem to have your front seat passenger moving the stick for you.

With a stick and clutch pedal you have way more tools at your hand should your car start to go sideways. And don’t get me started on those stupid button parking brakes…