OK - going to ask here, too: which cheap-ish, small-ish AWD SUV would you buy?

nguyendot

DSkip wrote: »

nguyendot wrote: »

I had a 2015 CX-5 and it was awesome. Amazing handling, peppy engine, and decent room in passenger and trunk area. I had FWD and it still tore through snow like nobody's business.

Had?

Yeah, had. I got it because my dad worked for Mazda and my 550i was coming up on 100k miles. I got a great price and it was rated 5 stars on all crash except rollover (4). Also, gas was going up and I drive something like 20k miles a year for work.

At the time my wife had a Sorento and I had the 550. Getting the CX-5 saved a lot on gas and it had plenty of room to cart stuff around. Also my wifes mom lived with us so we needed the space.

I said something stupid to the tune of "If I knew you'd end up with a job that is only 1 mile from home, I'd have let you buy a Land Rover or something". So she started shopping for a Land Rover, and ended up with a Escalade because it's huge and has 3 rows. Well, I don't need two SUV's if we have a land yacht and every time a fast car passed me it reminded me of "I used to have something faster".

Small things got to me such as the non-automatic moon roof on close, the passenger windows wouldn't auto close. Seats that weren't programmable. 20 way seats. Keyless entry that didn't require you hitting a button on the handle to open it. Poor hatch lighting. Non LED tail lights. 170hp.....

The CX5 for the price and type of vehicle was great, it's shortcomings were personal to me not really to the car as a whole. I drove luxury cars before so it was just a difference. In the end I got a great deal on a newer 550i and traded the CX-5 in at a loss after only 9 months. Someone got a great deal though.

Nightfall

nguyendot wrote: »

Small things got to me such as the non-automatic moon roof on close, the passenger windows wouldn't auto close. Seats that weren't programmable. 20 way seats. Keyless entry that didn't require you hitting a button on the handle to open it. Poor hatch lighting. Non LED tail lights. 170hp.....

What is all this black magic you speak of? Moon roof? Automatic windows? You mean there are windows that you don't have to turn a crank to open and close? Programmable seats, 20 way? You mean more than forward and backward? Keyless entry? Black magic! 170hp? Why does it need so much power?

nguyendot

It was dumb that the moonroof automatically opened, but wouldn't automatically close.

markmarc

After some 2 months of shopping a year ago we bought the Honda CR-V. The other finalists were the Toyota RAV4, Subaru Forrester, and Mazda. In all honesty we would have been happy with any of them. The CR-V has delivered terrific mileage in town, and on a spring break trip from Portland to Phoenix we averaged 36 to the gallon. The drivers seat managed to "cure" 7 months of sciatic pain.

WLDock

mhardy6647 wrote: »

FYI/FWIW, Mrs. H made her move.

Congrats! Enjoy it!

The Mrs. and I just made a move also. We just leased a CX-5 yesterday. She loves the way it drives better than the Tucson.

BlueFox

CX-5 has "Zoom zoom". If I finally break down and buy a vehicle with an automatic it will be the CX-5 AWD. FYI. I currently have a 2005 Mazda 3 that is still perfect! Can I get another 10 years out of this car?

nguyendot

If I had to buy another small SUV I'd probably get a CX-5 again.
I hope they fixed the damn radio. Seriously who lets you play files off a USB drive but can't resume the file list? Also it took like 5 minutes to connect to my phone which was a pain. Driving it was awesome though. 32mpg average.

mhardy6647

Still getting RAV4 ads on teh webs, of course... :-)
Today, one showed a frontal view of a new RAV4 in white, changing to black... and I realized that its somewhat evil looking frontal aspect was very familiar.



I'm not the first to realize this, but I am still most amused by the similarity.



source:
http://www.pictaram.com/media/1218156220613576401_1560966712

WastelandWand'r

Now that I live in the real world, (meaning paved roads) I picked up this completely practical smallish SUV in Idaho. I loaded it up with a pair of 2.3TL's, 2B's, and Monitor 7's. Drove 2500 miles over the ALCAN and it got 16.5 miles to the gallon. When called upon it passes traffic like they are going backwards.
AWD for the winter, and heated leather seats for the ladies.
Just food for thought!
Nathan

BlueFox

Nice wheels. I like your definition of smallish. LOL.

mhardy6647

Well -- I'd call the new HR-V small, or the original morphs of the RAV4 and the CR-V... or the Suzuki X-90 (remember those?).

Heck my first "SUV" was small, too.

bronchusspiffed by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

mhardy6647

For completeness: this is the Suzuki X-90.


source: By Boyter at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2045863

There is actually one of those here in our tiny town -- it's somewhat rusty but at least it's still going.

WastelandWand'r

It's a Snailblazer, as the SRT8 Cherokee fanboys like to call them. Kinda small but not X-90 in size. The LS2 in it helps you forget what you are driving.
I would love to have an old Bronco to putt around in.
I remember someone telling me that they named it the Bronco because the ride reminded them of one.
N

mhardy6647

One certainly feels very connected to the terrain when driving a "real" Bronco :-)

audioblaster

Subaru will have the best AWD system for snow and everything but Honda is probably going to be an more reliable long lasting car.

shadowlight

Subaru, we own a 2014 Forrester and a 1998 Legacy with 220k