Lets put a buy deadline on this buy. 90 days ? 
Haha. To be fair, I never said I was going to buy tomorrow! Give me 12 months at least! This thread has helped me narrow down my options a bit anyway. Someone at work has just got a Cherokee Trailhawk, so I've gone off that option a bit now. I do still like the Renegade but the Grand Cherokee is probably the option that I'm currently favouring. I'll update as and when it happens anyway.
To be fair, you've started so many 'help me choose what to buy' threads, from Pickup trucks to sporty cars, to SUV's, that we just don't believe you anymore.
No offense, but this is a 'boy who cried wolf' type of situation.
Yep!!!! Buy something already for fack sakes!!!! 
Actually you've had the Mini for how long now? 8 months? And you're planning a purchase 12months out from now & are trying to decide on it now? WTF!!!?? I get saying you're gonna buy in 12 months & starting to save for said purchase & then maybe 2 months out you start to decide, but this is a little nutty!! 
Bit unnecessary. I've actually had the MINI since October 2016. I bought three vehicles in 2013, one in 2014, one in 2015 and two in 2016, so yeah, I am going to buy again at some point and my last post was 3 months ago, so hardly that prolific! I've made a few mistakes in my recent purchases though (not the Grand Caravan and MINI I might add), so don't want to go rushing in without thinking things through and I hate losing money. A big thank you to those who have offered helpful advice. I thought this was a motoring enthusiasts forum and I have to say that I find some of the abuse unhelpful and unnecessary and some members a bit aggressive and not very friendly. If you want to weigh in with some helpful information/advice then thank you, that is most welcome but if you don't have anything useful to say, then sometimes it's better to say nothing at all. I thought that I offered you some good advice on Grand Caravans a few months ago when you were contemplating one (or maybe that was someone else), so I like to think I contribute too and sometimes it's just interesting to have the discussion.
You did, and you do. My intent was not to alienate you or insult you, so for that, I sincerely apologize. Sometimes I come off a little brusque.
You have to admit...you DO like to kick a lot of proverbial tires...
No problem and I always appreciate your insight as a fellow Manitoban Fair point, I can see why sometimes I might come across that way but as an ex-car salesman myself, I hate wasting their time. I have only done two test drives in the last five years when I didn't buy something. One was a 2000 Impala, which was a piece of crap and that he hadn't bothered to tidy up even though he knew I was coming and the other a new Fiesta, which I probably would have bought if they had been able to get me one with a manual transmission and not the crappy Powershift. Never mind, the MINI came along later and satisfied my requirements and I think that I prefer it to the Fiesta too.
I have two best friends that have been talking about changing their vehicles ever since I have know them (3 and 5 years respectively) and even done a fair few test drives, so yeah, it can be a little bit annoying when someone talks a "big game" and nothing ever comes of it...
You're kind of the opposite of me. When I car shop I test drive everything. When shopping for my Golf R I drove over 20 vehicles. I didn't post multiple threads about what I should buy as I wanted to find it for myself through these test drives. I don't mind wasting close to 10 sales people's time as I am up front on my intentions, don't need to be babysat or "sold" on their product, I simply need then to hand me the keys. I always send them a debrief email the next day so they aren't guessing if I'll be back.
Maybe you should try my way and maybe you might find the perfect rig that suits your needs and learn what you actually are looking for. When I started shopping I thought for sure I'd end up in a RWD sports car but learns a lot over the course of that summer of test drives.
That's a lot of test drives but I'm glad that you found something that you like. The Golf GTI has long been on my "bucket list" of cars to own, as it's such a great all-round package and the R puts the cherry on the top with the extra power and AWD. I would probably take one over a WRX. Technically, I have owned a 2000 Golf GTi but for the UK only, they sold a version with the nice wheels, body-coloured bumpers and GTi seats with the 2 litre, 115 horsepower engine. Not really a proper GTi and to be honest a bit of a gutless old dog!
The last time we bought a "brand new" family car, we tested 9 compact cars in one day, which was a bit too much! I came to the conclusion that they were all pretty much the same, so we just went for the cheapest (the Corolla at the time).
I generally like to narrow it down to four options and get an idea on the figures before I drive anything so that I can eliminate any options that are overbudget and then I can let the heart take over, drive the remaining vehicles and buy the one that I like the best. This way works best for me, as I once got sent out in the high spec demo model with the nice wheels, more powerful motor and all the nice features and then was pretty disappointed when they rolled out the version that I could actually afford!
The MINI was different though, a lot more spontaneous. I drove past the lot and saw it, test drove it, liked it, bought it. I wasn't really planning on buying a new car that day (although I wasn't all that enamoured of the one that I was driving).
