Small SUV recommendations?

mikea

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
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iWin
Jann is shopping for a new car. When I made the mistake of letting her out of my sight (she went to New Jersey on business) she rented a Hyundai Santa Fe and fell in love with bigness and highness. She is (was) fairly determined to buy one. I don't like 'em so far, no matter how good the warranty is.

Last Saturday I took her to the nearby Toyota dealer to see a RAV-4. That was a mistake. We ain't the compact anything types. The 4 Runner was too big and right out. So she tried the in between Toyota Highlander. Now we're talking.

I see they have a hybrid version. I'm thinking that might be neat to really save on gas. I wonder how hard it is to get one. Then I read Jim Meteja in the Chicago Tribune:
Those dedicated to the cause of relief from reliance on foreign oil have to pay $6,800 more for a base hybrid and $7,700 more for the Limited than if they bought the V-6 Highlander minus the NiMH batteries.

At $2 a gallon, the $6,800 to $7,700 premium would buy 3,400 to 3,850 gallons of gas. If your current vehicle obtains 20 m.p.g., those 3,400 to 3,850 gallons would give you 68,000 to 77,000 miles of motoring.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/class...5298.column?page=2&coll=chi-homepagepromo-utl
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Now at $3 a gallon it changes the numbers a bit. I think this is pilot thriftiness at its best. None of that matters. I'd pay the extra dough. Just don't charge me $5.00 to park it. :D

Anybody know about the similar-sized offerings from the other makes? I know there's the Lexus RX300 which is the same vehicle + some features + the Lexus tax. I need to check to see what Honda and Nissan have in that league.

I had her sit in a Camry, which is what's under the Highlander. We both thought it was pretty good. I like Bruce's Ford 500. I think, as we are wont to do, she's got her heart set on joining the trend just as it's ending.

Let me know your experiences and recommendations.
 
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Camry's nice.

If you're determined on the hybrid, also check out the Ford Escape Hybrid. About the same size as the Highlander. No clue as to the price.

I am pretty negative about GM products. As in "no way, no how".
 
Mike;

Take a look at the Subaru Forestor for the small SUV. I get 30 mpg around where I live mostly country and the car now has over 100k on it. It really does not need much except I change the oil and filter every 3k plus rotate the tires. I do this myself. It has a guarentee of 100k on the drive train. I still take it to the dealer every 15k to do the software upgrades to the controller and it runs great. I hope to get another 200k out of it. We will see. Last car I had was a Toyota Camry and it went for 300k and gave it to my son who still drives it, now 375k Oh Well they still keep running.


Good luck let us know what you get.

John j
 
All well and good, but Mike is 75" and JAnn is 71" IIRC. Not Camry stuff. If she likes tall, a nonhybrid mid size SUV is OK. Just be SURE you get side airbags. They rollover when hit from the side, I've seen it here in the ER. Lots of troubles afterwards for years to come.

Maybe you should show her a midsize crew cab pickup...
But I LIKE my Ford 500. 28 mpg on the road. It goes pretty good and 18 mpg in the worst city driving. 12 air bags. Heavy.
 
bbchien said:
All well and good, but Mike is 75" and JAnn is 71" IIRC. Not Camry stuff. If she likes tall, a nonhybrid mid size SUV is OK. Just be SURE you get side airbags. They rollover when hit from the side, I've seen it here in the ER. Lots of troubles afterwards for years to come.

Maybe you should show her a midsize crew cab pickup...
But I LIKE my Ford 500. 28 mpg on the road. It goes pretty good and 18 mpg in the worst city driving. 12 air bags. Heavy.
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It's interesting you use the word "Heavy". I also was/am a believer in vehicle safety=vehicle weight. I have however been shown one of the new safety lines of thinking, the "Beachball" car as I call. I was discussing the Smart Car with one of its engineers, ( for those not familiar, this is a 2 door sloped front box that is nearly taller than it is long and is a Daimler Chrysler product), it is tiny, and it is Light and supposedly one of the safest vehicles on the road. The theory is, that with modern engineering and materials, they have built a "space frame" around the occupants to absorb and reflect the energy of the impact and bounce out away from the scene. I was explained some of the engineering, and it sounded good, but I wasn't fully convinced. My main qualm was the distance of the absorption before bounceback, and the driver/pax restraint system seemed inadequate for the task as advertised. Time will tell. The Smart Car with the diesel get around 70-75 mpg roughly calculated (everything here is rated in liters consumed per 100km).
 
Henning said:
It's interesting you use the word "Heavy".
Click to expand...

Sherry and Holly ride around in a Crown Vic. Not the most stylish thing on the road, but surprisingly luxurious and built like a tank. Looong crush zones.
 
Two years ago we tried them ALL.

Ended up buying the Honda CR-V, haven't regretted it a bit.

mikea said:
Jann is shopping for a new car. When I made the mistake of letting her out of my sight (she went to New Jersey on business) she rented a Hyundai Santa Fe and fell in love with bigness and highness. She is (was) fairly determined to buy one. I don't like 'em so far, no matter how good the warranty is.

Last Saturday I took her to the nearby Toyota dealer to see a RAV-4. That was a mistake. We ain't the compact anything types. The 4 Runner was too big and right out. So she tried the in between Toyota Highlander. Now we're talking.

I see they have a hybrid version. I'm thinking that might be neat to really save on gas. I wonder how hard it is to get one. Then I read Jim Meteja in the Chicago Tribune:


Now at $3 a gallon it changes the numbers a bit. I think this is pilot thriftiness at its best. None of that matters. I'd pay the extra dough. Just don't charge me $5.00 to park it. :D

Anybody know about the similar-sized offerings from the other makes? I know there's the Lexus RX300 which is the same vehicle + some features + the Lexus tax. I need to check to see what Honda and Nissan have in that league.

I had her sit in a Camry, which is what's under the Highlander. We both thought it was pretty good. I like Bruce's Ford 500. I think, as we are wont to do, she's got her heart set on joining the trend just as it's ending.

Let me know your experiences and recommendations.
Click to expand...
 
My wife drove a bunch of small pickups, SUVs and coupes before finally settling on a Jeep Liberty Limited Edition - She absolutely loved it from the first time she sat in it.

Good solid handling, positive 4WD selection via a lever (not a little switch that you forget about), really well behaved in the winter slop, and nice and stable on the freeway at 75+. MPG according to the computer is 17.2 - thats over 33,000 miles - she's never actually reset the trip odometer once :) Reasonable luggage space - split rear seats, we can get a 6' item in without moving a front seat, or 8' 4" with the front seat flat (8' 9" corner to corner). Stereo has kickin' bass :D

Downside - a little noisy at speed, steering is a little tight for my liking (very little free play in the center of the range), performance of the 3.7L V6 is adequate, but won't wake you up in the mornings.

Her's is a 2002MY which we bought in 2003 with a 7yr 100,000 bumper to bumper warranty. One recall to date (ball joints) during which she got a free loaner (RAM 2500 - that was funny to see, my wife is about 5'2") but other than normal maintenance, no surprises or problems.
 
I have the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and like it very much. I have a thread around here somewhere on it... I was going to recommend the RAV-4 but I see you've already ruled it out. If you want the hybrid you either need to be willing to take what the dealer has, or custom order one - because they're selling fast and there is no negotiation on sticker price.

Here's the thread I started a while back:
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2296&highlight=highlander

I've been getting about 25 MPG on average. I've been recording every fillup. Just hit 2,000 miles yesterday. :)
 
I don't think my Honda Pilot really qualifies as a small SUV, but if people are throwing around Highlander then it's worth a mention.

Comfortable. Seats 8 (yes, eight) but handles and parks like a car. Very tight turning radius for an SUV. Gas mileage is about 20 highway (@ 80 mph) and 16-18 in town with my leadfoot probably influencing that downward a bit. Plus, it's a Honda.

At first my wife said "you only want to get it because it's called a Pilot." But now she always wants to drive it instead of her BMW. Guess I'll have to get her a new Beemer to get my car back.
 
Ken Ibold said:
I don't think my Honda Pilot really qualifies as a small SUV, but if people are throwing around Highlander then it's worth a mention.

Comfortable. Seats 8 (yes, eight) but handles and parks like a car. Very tight turning radius for an SUV. Gas mileage is about 20 highway (@ 80 mph) and 16-18 in town with my leadfoot probably influencing that downward a bit. Plus, it's a Honda.

At first my wife said "you only want to get it because it's called a Pilot." But now she always wants to drive it instead of her BMW. Guess I'll have to get her a new Beemer to get my car back.
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The Pilot is basically an Acura MDX rebadged. Very nice SUV, but pricey. Its amazing what you guys spend on cars and RV's, then complain about the cost of flying or owning an airplane. BMW's? Nice, but for that money you could get another Citabria or two. :)
 
Anthony said:
The Pilot is basically an Acura MDX rebadged. Very nice SUV, but pricey. Its amazing what you guys spend on cars and RV's, then complain about the cost of flying or owning an airplane. BMW's? Nice, but for that money you could get another Citabria or two. :)
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It appears that Ken has the wife factor, Anthony. That trumps the additional airplane factor....
 
Anthony said:
The Pilot is basically an Acura MDX rebadged. Very nice SUV, but pricey.
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Yes, the Pilot is built on the same assembly line as the Acura. But it costs 15K less. I guess "pricey" depends on your point of view. My top-of-the-line 04 was well under 30K and well worth the price.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Yes, the Pilot is built on the same assembly line as the Acura. But it costs 15K less. I guess "pricey" depends on your point of view. My top-of-the-line 04 was well under 30K and well worth the price.
Click to expand...

Actually, I think its very positive that the Pilot is similar to the MDX. I think the MDX is one of the best SUV's out there. I didn't realize you could get a Pilot for under $30K. I thought they were more like $35K.
 
John J said:
Take a look at the Subaru Forestor for the small SUV. I get 30 mpg around where I live mostly country and the car now has over 100k on it.
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I have a Subaru Legacy Outback which I really like. However, for people who like the feeling of sitting "tall" it's probably not the right choice. It does have good ground clearance and is the best handling vehicle in snow that I have driven. I like it much better than the Ford Explorer which I owned previously or the little Jeep Wrangler which I still have.

When I bought it I chose the one with the smaller engine which I kicked myself about for a while because it doesn't have the best acceleration. But it also gets about 28 mpg on the average which I think is pretty good for an AWD. So maybe I'm feeling smarter now. :yes:
 
Anthony said:
Actually, I think its very positive that the Pilot is similar to the MDX. I think the MDX is one of the best SUV's out there. I didn't realize you could get a Pilot for under $30K. I thought they were more like $35K.
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Oh, you are right. I had forgotten that I had to trade in my POS Durango because no one would buy it retail. I paid 32 for the EX-L model w/o nav or rear DVD, but with tow pkg, running boards and some other stuff. The base model is still under 30, with a MSRP of 28K.

I considered the Acura, because when it comes to cars I am not very price sensitive. I figure it makes sense to buy what you want and keep it a long time instead of "settling" every few years. The Acura is very nice, but just a little too "old man" for my taste.
 
I lease the PILOT though my firm and I LOVE IT! My wife loves it more b/c I got the nav system in it. ( She has trouble finding her way out of the garage). My neighbor has the MDX and I like the PILOT much more. It seats 8 vs 7 in the MDX. Drives great, is huge inside and not so huge outside mpg is ok on the high way and you can haul haul haul.
 
Update. She test drove the Hee Yoon Die - without me. She wants one because it costs a lot less and has the side airbags standard.

Although he strongly suspects it's going to be a case of "This one is great! They fix it every week and I never have to pay!" the BF is going to STFU. :dunno:
 
If she liked the Santa Fe, have her check out Hyundai's new Tuscon. It's a little smaller and easier to get around in, but still sits nice and high, and is roomy. We thought the interior was much nicer than the Santa Fe, and it was a lot nicer to drive. Decent gas mileage, nice power, and a nice smooth ride.

We've had our Elantra GT for about a year and half and 20,000 miles now, with no troubles at all. It's built nice and tight, is comfy and loaded up for a very good price. Hyundai has reportedly been paying a lot of attention to quality, and from our experience with our car and reports I've read they seem to be doing a good job. The only weakness we noted before purchase and since is that the paint is a little thin, but the Tuscon looks to have a better quality paint job.

The Tuscon finished second on our list when we bought my car, because the base Matrix was cheaper and gets 30 mpg. But we did really like the Tuscon.
 
Joe Williams said:
If she liked the Santa Fe, have her check out Hyundai's new Tuscon.
Click to expand...

She did see the Tucson. The friend she went to the Hyudai dealer with wanted to check that one out. I suspect that like the RAV4 vs. Highlander, she needed the bit more room.

She wants me to look at it tomorrow. We'll see if I have the time.
 
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