I was returning my rental car at the Des Moines airport and a car caught my eye. It was a Buick Enclave. I thought that it was a nice looking vehicle, I even did a double take to see what it was. Little did I know that when I flew into Portland and picked up my next rental, I would end up with a Buick Enclave for our road trip rental.

There was a lot to like about it. It was AWD which would come in handy in our snow covered road driving. It had a third row so plenty of room for four and the overstuffed luggage. I didn’t look under the hood, but I felt it had adequate power for the the 80MPH speed limits in the west and a 21 gallon fuel tank had over a 500 mile range. That is a good thing when you want to go or you are out in the middle of no man’s land desert. The seats were comfortable enough to drive for twelve hours a day if we had to.

You don’t spend all that time in a car and not find some things that you don’t like either. The controls were confusing, I still didn’t figure it all out after a week. We were trying out Android Auto and it worked pretty good until the last couple of days and we had consistent connection issues until we gave up on it for the last couple of days. Last but not least, the heating/cooling system we never figured out. It was always too hot or too cold. I specifically did not like the tiny back window and the small amount of clearing the little wiper performed.

Despite all the good things, our overall assessment was not to buy and the reason was ultimately the glitches left an unsatisfactory taste in the vehicle. I want to say that we are at a point that we expect the fundamentals of a vehicle to work. Adequate power, adequate economy, adequate comfort are accepted as baselines for any car. But if you cant get the heat right or settings always go back to a default set, it is kind of annoying.

I think everyone that has bought a car has had some form of buyer remorse. A couple of miles of test drive is just not enough to get a feel for certain aspects of the car. I remember when we bought our Navigator, we were literally leaving the lot and the parking sensors started going off. We drove back to the dealer and they smiled and said the deal is done. Since they were no a Lincoln dealer, there was not a lot they could do. We still have occasional gremlins that go off and don’t know why.

Taking a car on a road trip is a perfect test of a vehicle. You really get intimate with the features and capabilities. We are thinking of upgrading from the Navigator since it seems to be on it’s last legs. There sure are a lot of $50,000 cars out there which equate to a lot of payments over a long time. I would hate to decide years of obligation in 15 minutes.

Our current choices are weighted toward the Hyundai Tucson and the Ford Explorer. I have driven the Tucson several times but not the recent Explorer. I sure would consider renting for a weekend to see how I feel about each one. Ideally, you would also want to consider typical use conditions as well.

What I mean is that it is unrealistic to test moving 18 sheets of plywood if that is never going to happen because I have a pick-up for that. In software, we have a 95/5 rule. If something happens in the 5% window, it is worth considering the cost and complexity for coding the edge case scenarios. Or said another way, I am not going to buy a fifteen passenger van on the off chance that I will have 14 friends to haul one time. It makes no sense. So start by doing what you normally do and consider the edge cases on a specific basis.

A long time ago, we purchased a Ford Expedition. We had that about two years before we traded it for a Dodge Caravan. The justification was that it was lower so my wife could take her grandparents around. I think that happened a couple of times while we owned the vehicle (and the Caravan lifecycle is a story for another day). That was actually a poor financial decision for a false justification.

But here is a marriage tip, my wife should be able to have any reasonable vehicle. It turned out that with young kids the mini-van was much easier in and out. We had three extra seats that the Expedition didn’t have and we acquired some extra kids (another story for another day). The lower roofline was much easier to load kayaks which she did multiple times a year. I think it worked out alright despite the false premise to begin with.

End Your Programming Routine: As of late, we have had some pretty good longevity with cars. I think that we went through nearly thirty before we were aged 40. I have owned my pickup since 2003 and we bought the Navigator in 2012. Sure, I wish I still had the Mustang but that had to go for financial practical reasons. Neither vehicle is ideal in every circumstance. But, as I get older and smarter I want to make sure that I can live with the quirks if I end up paying $800 a month for six years.