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I have read the on-line reviews and test driven almost all of them......CRV, RAV4, Escape, CX-5, Forrester - the list goes on and on, and would like some opinions of people who actually drive one? Any help would be appreciated.
I'm prepared to guarantee that the responses won't help you make up your mind. CRV and RAV4 are the biggest sellers, so I suppose you'll get a lot who will tell you to get what they've got. Subaru owners are very vocal so they will be almost as voluble. Several people will explain why all of these are trash, and that you should really buy a Lincoln Town Car.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Yes, everyone has their own opinions, you really need to look at them all and decide for yourself. We considered CRV, RAV4, Escape, and Forester. The differences on paper were very little. Despite the recalls on the 2013 Escape, we bought a 2014 hoping those bugs have been worked out. The Forester is in the first year of a major redesign so we'd expect it to have similar first year problems. The CRV just didn't appeal to us visually, and the RAV4 seemed overpriced and didn't have the handling of the Escape. We went to a dealer
that has been very good to us in the past on another vehicle, and got the 4WD 2014 SE for $23,900, sticker was close to $29,000. We have about 2,000 miles on it since September and love it. We are getting 21.5mpg around town and on the one trip so far about 29. It has the little 1.6 liter but with the turbo it has more power than we need (178 HP, 6 speed auto).
We have a 2010 Rav4 AWD Limited with a V-6. As you cannot get the V-6 anymore, my observations would be useless, unless you buy used, like we did. 2 Years ago we test drove the new CR-V, Outback, and Escape. I also need to mention that we live at 7500'. The 4 cylinder crossovers felt pretty anemic compared to the RAV. Last Christmas we towed a U-Haul trailer loaded with a bunch of stuff including a piano, to San Diego. It got horrible mileage, around 17mpg, but was able to maintain 75+, even up grades. Without the trailer and roof mounted box, we are averaging 25.2. We just did a quick trip to Steamboat with 5 ppl onboard and the Packasport box on top. No problem cruising up I-70 with it's 11,000' passes, at or above the posted limits. You can probably find a low mileage 2012 with a 100k mile warrenty in the mid 20's. You should also look at the new Mazda CX-5. All the magazines are really positive about the CX-5.
we went down from a pilot to a crv (a certified '12 ex-l awd) this fall. So far we've been getting 28-30 mpg in real world driving which for us is a mix of putting around town and interstate speeds (70+). We have been very happy with the 'performance' the 4 gives us, the comfort is good and same for the features.
Now we'll get a good feel for how it acts under load, when we head up to WI in a week and drive thru the mountains in TN... but to be honest the pilot wasnt exactly a beast climbing those hills either lol.
Location: In a Galaxy far, far away called Germany
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I just bought a Subaru Crosstrek XV (AWD) about 2 months ago and I love it. It is my first Subaru. It isn't exotic or flashy, but it is exactly what I needed AND it has a 5 star rating on safety.
Heck I still a nice used 1998-01 Jeep Cherokee (Xj) with the 4.0 Ho is one of the best SUV's out there in terms of having real SUV capability and a near bullet proof 4.0 liter Inline-6 with tons of aftermarket support and parts and lots of jeep owners/Clubs to help out new people to the brand.
Here are some real owners reviews: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/ov...model=Cherokee
OP I would also check out the last Generation Nissan Pathfinder since the new one is not as capable of a SUV as the last few Generations.
If you want I CUV then I am not really up to date on what is what but would mention the latest Ford Escape has nice look from what I have seen and from what others have said although they give up a lot of SUV Tow/Hauling/Off-Road capability/Ruggedness for on Road comfort and car like handling instead of truck type handling.
Automotive Magazine/Online tests Report that the latest Generation of Escape is a pretty stout CUV that gets great Fuel economy with the Ecoboost turbo 4 Cylinder engines offered.
I think it depends on the price that you would have to pay for each one. Sticker prices scare me. I would probably never look at an Escape because of the high sticker but if I knew that I could subtract 5000 off of it I might look at one. Even the CR-V, at least the higher end models, can be had for well under sticker.
However, we are traditionally a Honda/Subaru family. But the dealers are a 20 minutes away. A Ford Dealer is much closer.
Since you mentioned "the best small SUV out there", one gotta add the obvious ones:
Audi Q5 with TDI
BMW X3 (wish they offered the diesel option in US)
Mercedes GLK BlueTEC
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