Which SUV will u suggest going to & from Bahrain, Kobar???

What is your budget?

brightonguy wrote:

What is your budget?

Hi...

Bd12K....what will u personally suggest?

I have the chevvy trailblazer. BD250 a month on lease for 3 years. Includes servicing, insurance, registration etc.

If you are planning to purchase, I'd suggest Kia Sportage. Within your budget and a great car.

Josnuggles wrote:

I have the chevvy trailblazer. BD250 a month on lease for 3 years. Includes servicing, insurance, registration etc.

Hi...thx for d response.....r u using it to cross saudi???how is it???i have heared that d maintenance/parts r expensive, is it true???

we visited their showroom & it's within ur budget...we will b back on sun for d test drive

brightonguy wrote:

If you are planning to purchase, I'd suggest Kia Sportage. Within your budget and a great car.

Hi...thx for d response

We r going in KIA showroom also on sun to chk d Sportage...is it true that we need v6 & at least 3L SUV to be safe to travel in Saudi???one of our Arabic friend told us this...or 2.4L w/ 4 cylinder is safe???We r really confused on what to consider

I really think you don't 'need' v6. It's a smooth ride between here and Khobar. All on a highway - you won't be crossing deserts or stuff. If you go with the full option of Sportage, I think it comes with v6 but I am not sure. You can check that one there.

Don't be fooled by the asking price - definitely negotiate once you made your mind up. In fact, let me know what they quote you so I can guestimate how much you should be asking for.

brightonguy wrote:

I really think you don't 'need' v6. It's a smooth ride between here and Khobar. All on a highway - you won't be crossing deserts or stuff. If you go with the full option of Sportage, I think it comes with v6 but I am not sure. You can check that one there.

Don't be fooled by the asking price - definitely negotiate once you made your mind up. In fact, let me know what they quote you so I can guestimate how much you should be asking for.

Thank u for d pointer...will definitely let u know

Can you please not use sms speak when on a forum. A lot of people on here won't understand

I don't cross to Saudi obviously as I'm female but I do have friends that cross over who have the same vehicle and they say it's a comfy ride. As I stated earlier, servicing and everything is included in the lease price. Buying a car is ok but can lead to lots of stress especially if in an accident.

Josnuggles wrote:

Can you please not use sms speak when on a forum. A lot of people on here won't understand

I don't cross to Saudi obviously as I'm female but I do have friends that cross over who have the same vehicle and they say it's a comfy ride. As I stated earlier, servicing and everything is included in the lease price. Buying a car is ok but can lead to lots of stress especially if in an accident.

my apology...

Thx for the info

brightonguy wrote:

I really think you don't 'need' v6. It's a smooth ride between here and Khobar. All on a highway - you won't be crossing deserts or stuff. If you go with the full option of Sportage, I think it comes with v6 but I am not sure. You can check that one there.

Don't be fooled by the asking price - definitely negotiate once you made your mind up. In fact, let me know what they quote you so I can guestimate how much you should be asking for.

Hi...we visited d Kia showroom last night...sportage is selling like a cupcake...it takes 3months before their new stock will arrived...so they show us the sorento...v6,3.5L, navi, 4WD Mid Option Bd10K Ramadan offer...they said this price is only for 2WD if NOT Ramadan...but I'm not sure if it's true...it is a tempting price...my huby is now in 50% liking it coz of the price & some features...but we're still undecided...is this a good choice???safe???re sale value???i hope some members will give us their feedback/pointers...Thx in advance...

hello

i cross bahrain and khobar almost 4 times a week. An suv is not necessary for this trip because its around 70km or less and also there are no deserts and bad roads to deal with. but if its your personal choice then its okie. But mainly you have to keep one thing in mind. sometimes the causeway get really crowded. it might take upto 4 or even 6 hours to cross. this can be caused due to heavy holiday/weekend traffic or even a system down situation. in such cases your car will be in the heat for such a long time and the ac tends to die off or get cut off. so get a car which has a really good air conditioning . if your ac dies in the causeway during summer, is even worse to roll down the windows because the other cars next to you radiates so much heat you cannot handle it. this is from my personal experience. i used to have a 2007 ford explorer and the ac gets cut off if the car if its not moving for a short while and it was during summer. now i have a 2013 gmc sierra and its a paradise

so take care of the ac part. otherwise any car will do the job

Sorento is a brilliant car. The full option Kia Carens is also a great car (I own one myself and very happy with it). Sorento is one step up from Carens, so presumably it's even better. Do a test drive with both.

The price might be tempting, but you can always negotiate. And please do. After a heavy negotiation, I got a good discount over their Ramadan prices as I bought my car as their Ramadan campaign started.

Let me know how you get on. When you enter the showroom, the guy who sits right at the end was the one who helped me out. Tell him Jack sent you, maybe he might be more helpful

We have a Kia Sportage - perhaps we will sell it if there is that much demand

However, we have friends who have the Sorrento and really like it and in fact as there are 5 in our family, we wish we had bought the Sorrento for that bit of extra space.

Can anybody share their opinions about the Hyundai Santa Fe? Any pointers on Warranty and service will be highly appreciated

Hyundai offers lifetime warranty in their car if I am not wrong. It's a very popular car in the region because it is not expensive and spare parts are also cheap. However, since they are pretty much the same segment, I prefer Kia over Hyundai purely based on personal preference in the looks.

brightonguy wrote:

Hyundai offers lifetime warranty in their car if I am not wrong. It's a very popular car in the region because it is not expensive and spare parts are also cheap. However, since they are pretty much the same segment, I prefer Kia over Hyundai purely based on personal preference in the looks.

Thanks, Jack. I've also heard of the lifetime warranty on Hyundai. Is it true that the re-sale value of Hyundai and Kia is much less than that of Toyota?

I wouldn't say much less no. I would say slightly less if not the same.

brightonguy wrote:

I wouldn't say much less no. I would say slightly less if not the same.

Thanks. Any other suggestions for a car in the 10k BD price range?

I think it's best if you travel around the dealers in the Sitra area. They all have very good Ramadan offers on. Any car will get your husband to Khobar easily and smoothly.

The only issue I could see with KIA is their resale value. If you dont have an issue with that, they have some great SUV's, otherwise Toyota and Nissan have some great SUV's as well.

I think the resale value issue for Kias exist pre 2011 period cars. Since then, Kia has gone through a complete revamp and their cars offer some amazing price / performance advantages. Hyundai has some good SUVs as well. But within 10K price range, I don't think you can look at anything other than Honda, KIA, Toyota and Hyundai to be honest - unless you want to go Chinese, I wouldn't recommend that though.

Update:

Hi everyone...

my hubby seal the deal in KIA sorento just now...On our way home SCB called to inform us that we are approved & we need to go in their office tomorrow morning for signing...I know, it's so fast

Thank you all for your comments & suggestions...

5hutterbug wrote:

Can anybody share their opinions about the Hyundai Santa Fe? Any pointers on Warranty and service will be highly appreciated

Hi...we saw the Hyundai Santa Fe...it's 7seater SUV but we did have the chance to test drive it...Better buy car while it's Ramadan coz of their offers...As of now the SCB is offering the lowest rate...Hope it helps...

Well done. Hope he enjoys it.

To cross between Bahrain and Khobar there is no need for an SUV !

It's just a bridge you're crossing and a car like Kia Sorento ( Crossover SUV ) is more than enough

It's a good choice for a long run 

It's one of the best SUV's under $ 25 K

Enjoy the car and happy driving   

First of all, Congrats on the Sorento. It will do you good.

The Sorento will be sufficient enough, even more than enough. These days you don't need a V6 or higher because of the highway driving. In the old days it held truth because 4 cylinder cars had so little horsepower and lacked the "ommph" to merge on the highways onto passing traffic. These days newer cars have more power even in a 4 cylinder that makes them adequate. The only reason would be fuel economy, and of course here in the Middle East that doesn't seem to the be the first priority.

For resale value, again this was almost 10 years or more ago pertaining to Korean cars that their resale value was low due to the fact that no one wanted a second hand. Hyundai and Kia are now very different companies from what they were before in the early 2000s. They've focused a lot on quality and experience rather than just quantity in which they found out the hard way in the past. One of the competitive markets, the US, they've done well for themselves and still are, and are no longer the issue with resale value. It's more value you get over higher priced cars that are in the same categories. People who say otherwise may be the older generation and/or haven't tried the cars from the two companies today. Resale value for Korean cars are closing in closely with the likes of Japanese, and is not really an issue. If you only talk resale value then you'd probably have to go with Japanese only, and will never have the piece of mind to drive what you really want because of the resale value.

If you're worried about reliability, you shouldn't, as any cars can have its quirks, but as the whole company, you can find that Hyundai and Kia are above the industry average. Furthermore you'll find that some of the brands you think are great can be below the average.

As for service through the dealers, I'm not sure of KIA, but have experience with Hyundai. No problems, and a whole lot better than the dealers here selling German cars. Purely from my experience. I will never buy any German cars here from the dealers. Unfortunate when the cars are good but the dealers are the opposite.

Anyways, I think you've made a smart choice and hope you enjoy your new car.