The Background:
Early in 2019, my wife and I found out that we were going to have child number 2. This is something that we had been trying for and were very happy to find out…However, that brought to the front of my mind something I had wondered about since our first child, and that was how are we going to fit another car seat into our current cars.
Hers: (2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE)
His: (2012 Ford Focus Titanium)
We are also in the process of fixing up our house and have never been able to move building supplies with our current vehicles. Which meant renting a truck every time we needed to move anything bigger than hand tools. Neither of our vehicles are rated to tow either, so using a trailer was out. Fortunately, around that same time my mother was looking to replace her 2010 QX56 with a 2019 QX80. So we started talking with my family, and decided that we would buy her QX56 when she was done with it, and we would sell my Focus, since I bought it when I had a 99.7 mile daily commute, and now I have a 2.5 mile daily commute. The Infiniti would become my wife’s (as she will be the one usually moving the kids) and the Mitsubishi would become mine.
My Mother had always had the QX56 dealer maintained, and they were very good about keeping up on oil changes and doing any recommended work the dealer suggested. That said neither of my parents are very mechanically minded, and as such never really did anything proactively on the car, and so I have found quite a few issues with the truck that they didn’t know about, but none of them are critical to the reliability or longevity of the truck, and I’ll slowly start fixing things as we own it.
The Good:
I used to own an overlanding company, and so any 4x4 I own that Is where my mind goes. So, after fixing the air suspension, and headlight. I’m planning possibly a roof rack, some auxiliary lighting, more off road-oriented tires, and possibly more. But stay tuned because this is where the updates will be.
The Pictures:
Front Passenger side
Front Drivers Side
Driver Side
Back End
Interior
Engine Bay
Front Underside
Side underside
Early in 2019, my wife and I found out that we were going to have child number 2. This is something that we had been trying for and were very happy to find out…However, that brought to the front of my mind something I had wondered about since our first child, and that was how are we going to fit another car seat into our current cars.
Hers: (2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE)
His: (2012 Ford Focus Titanium)
We are also in the process of fixing up our house and have never been able to move building supplies with our current vehicles. Which meant renting a truck every time we needed to move anything bigger than hand tools. Neither of our vehicles are rated to tow either, so using a trailer was out. Fortunately, around that same time my mother was looking to replace her 2010 QX56 with a 2019 QX80. So we started talking with my family, and decided that we would buy her QX56 when she was done with it, and we would sell my Focus, since I bought it when I had a 99.7 mile daily commute, and now I have a 2.5 mile daily commute. The Infiniti would become my wife’s (as she will be the one usually moving the kids) and the Mitsubishi would become mine.
My Mother had always had the QX56 dealer maintained, and they were very good about keeping up on oil changes and doing any recommended work the dealer suggested. That said neither of my parents are very mechanically minded, and as such never really did anything proactively on the car, and so I have found quite a few issues with the truck that they didn’t know about, but none of them are critical to the reliability or longevity of the truck, and I’ll slowly start fixing things as we own it.
The Good:
- Body is in relatively good shape, and for a car that has spent its whole life outside in New England, the body is rust free, and the underside isn’t as rusty as I would have expected.
- There are only about 140K miles on it, and since the engine and trans are from the titan and armada, replacement units shouldn’t be hard to find if needed.
- My folks put a brand-new exhaust system on the truck right before we bought it.
- We got a great deal on the price, basically only having to pay $500.00 more than the last service.
- My folks had German shepherds, and so there is a fair bit of dog hair inside
- The air suspension isn’t functioning, the compressor turns on, but the shocks don’t inflate, so new lines, and shocks are coming.
- The “trim” lens in the driver’s side headlight has fallen out of place and dropped in front of the low beam, scattering light everywhere.
- The ICC system died a week after we bought it.
- The gas mileage…I know this is just part of ownership, but we drove from NH to IN and back to visit some family, and when you go from two vehicles who’s worst mileage is 25 MPG, to a vehicle that averages 15 MPG on the highway…I need headphones to drown out the screaming of my dying wallet.
I used to own an overlanding company, and so any 4x4 I own that Is where my mind goes. So, after fixing the air suspension, and headlight. I’m planning possibly a roof rack, some auxiliary lighting, more off road-oriented tires, and possibly more. But stay tuned because this is where the updates will be.
The Pictures:
Front Passenger side
Front Drivers Side
Driver Side
Back End
Interior
Engine Bay
Front Underside
Side underside