Doing some travel in a few weeks that isn’t too far from the house (~200 miles). That is the bad news. The good news it the new job actually allows use of a personally owned vehicle for this trip! My last three former jobs wouldn’t allow us to drive our own cars more than 50 miles (+/-) and required us to use rentals.
We do have the option of taking a rental, but I’d much rather take my own car.
But which one!?
Volvo
Obvious choice. Most reliable, second best on gas, safest, and 2-door so I won’t get stuck ferrying coworkers around. Also looks like there are some goooood driving roads between me and my destination, so that should be fun!
I’ll be honest this will probably be my pick but what if....
Land Rover
Less obvious choice, but here me out. Really the only reason to go Landy is the destination is near a lot of national forests and other good overlanding spots. Might be fun to head out into the woods over the weekend and trail bash, especially if a new coworker (or six) want to join!
That said, 16MPG on a good day is... not advantageous and the Landy isn’t exactly relaxing on the highway.
Jaaaaag
I cannot understate how nice the Jag is on the highway. While I love the Volvo, I do occasionally have to kick it into 5th going up a long grades or be forced to feel the car struggle a bit. The Jag is (A) automatic and (B) overpowered, so it is just so... silky on the highway.
That said, it needs a lot of maintenance before I should be driving it outside of Uber/Lyft range and I don’t think I’ll have time to do it between now and then. Also while 22MPG on the highway is respectable... it is still only 22MPG to the Volvo’s 28+. Also also not sure the Jaaaaag would be the right fit on the twisty bits.
Alfa
I mean... if the weather was nice and the windshield wipers worked, I feel like this would be a viable option. The downside of the Alfa is neither of those things is true, it doesn’t have cruise control (or cup holders), and with a new soft top I’d probably pay the extra to valet it, which might raise some eyebrows on my expense report.
On the flip side it would be at home on the twisty bits and it gets the best gas mileage of the five.
Saab.
No.