Crossovers/small SUVs - recommendations?

They ran out of good car names a long time ago, so now they either make up a word (like “Elantra” or “Sportage” or “Outlander”), or call them something that doesn’t make any sense and try to pretend that it’s awesome.

Ford Escapes are cheap. Though my 06, V6 4WD baby gets 18 mpg. Works fine for me, as my commute is under 20 minutes of driving a day. Though, I cannot recommend buying the older used ones. Last month I had the issue that all mid 00’s Ford escape owners dread, my transmission died, gone, working fine until the final moments, no warning. Just gone. 60,000 miles and the transmission is gone. Piece of shit. Found out that this is a common problem with Escapes, there is a service alert out, apparently there was an issue in the manufacturing. I loved my car once, and now I will never trust it again.

-Jon

Gremlin and Pinto are names that come to mind as strange names. I even had a Pinto. It was brown, and looked like a bean on wheels.

Back to the OP. I have a 2008 Jeep Patriot. I honestly can’t recommend one. The reason I got it, $13,400 brand-new out the door. Awesome gas milage as well.

The really good thing is the storage, and it’s incredibly roomy.

The bad, everything else. Interior is literally falling apart, broken plastic, etc. The road noise is LOUD. I mean incredibly loud. I even got new tires, and it’s still loud. I don’t trust the engine to last. I think my suspension is already going out.

When I first got it, at 500 miles, it broke down. The dealership had it for 2 weeks before they figured out what was wrong and fixed it. At least they gave me a rental on their dime.

I have never heard anything much good about Jeeps. Every Jeep I’ve ever ridden in squeaks when you hit a bump, even new ones.

But they look so Rocky Mountain high!

Yes. I frequently like to shout “OUTLANDER!!” as I walk towards the vehicle.

Bump :)

Going SUV shopping this weekend ahead, I am looking at getting a 2016 with AWD, models I so far am planning to check out are: Hyundai Tucson , Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forrester and Ford Escape, are there any other contenders worth giving my time toward? I figured I could squeeze all 4 test drives into one day, as long as I pound it into the dealers heads I am not buying anything on my test drive day.

The past 2 winters here in the northeast with my FWD hatchback have been very unpleasant, as I have a lot of hills wherever I seem to travel.

Timely bump. Subaru Forester is the cheapest all wheel drive vehicle you can get but after my experiences of the last week I am making it my life’s mission to ensure no one ever buys a Subaru.

Some history first. This is my wife’s second new Forester. The first one was plagued by lots of minor issues all of which were covered under warranty but were annoying and, as we approached the end of the warranty period we got nervous so she talked to her friend who owned the dealership and he agreed that the car was a bit of a lemon and put her in a new one for nothing out of pocket and the same monthly bill. (Sure, she starts over from zero on her payments but it was an acceptable solution to us.)

Fast forward to last week. She’s had the car for three years now and has put 37,000 miles on it. She mostly commutes a mile to work and back and then we take it on road trips to visit family. We were coming back from such a visit last week when the engine started making nasty noises on the highway. We were close to town so we got home and I checked the engine for anything obvious and, after the engine cooled down, checked the oil. It was down 4.5 quarts which means that the car was running on almost no oil at all, on the highway. No oil pressure light, no check engine light.

I added oil and we brought it to the dealership. They changed the oil and said “It’s expected that it will some burn some oil between changes.” Because my wife said she was just past due for an oil change, they are saying the warranty is void unless we can demonstrate that she had an oil change since the dealership last did one (8500 miles ago and the interval is 7500.)

This is, as it turns out, a know issue with Subarus and there is a class action lawsuit out against them for it:

http://chimicles.com/subaru-oil-consumption-class-action-lawsuit

The dealer didn’t bother to dispute this but said we were shit out of luck since we didn’t get the oil changed at the recommended interval. He started by trying to talk around the issue but I politely and firmly got him to be frank and that’s what it boils down to. Sadly, my wife’s friend who used to own one of the local dealerships has moved on so we’ve got no allies in this fight.

I’m now exploring my options. Join the class action lawsuit? Pressure the dealership into a same cost trade in? Or just see what sort of deal I can get from my Mazda dealership on a used CX-5. I’m not inclined to keep the car at this point. I’d guess that the engine was stressed and could blow at any point in the next year or two and they’ve made it clear they will not cover it under warranty if it does.

The moral of the story is three fold:

– Never buy a Subaru
– Always get your oil change on time and keep records.
– Never get your oil change at the dealer as they will use it as an excuse to invalidate your warranty if you’re late.

On the last point, I wonder what percentage of people in the States get their oil changed on time? The dealership where she bought the car offered her free oil changes but they are 45 minutes away so she doesn’t always get there on time. My guess is Subaru knowing this is an issue probably has the numbers on how many people are timely with their oil changes and realized that free changes at the dealership is a cost effective way of invalidating power train warranties. Clever.

FWIW, I’ve owned two Subarus myself and while (and still like them a lot), but when it was time to get a new CUV, we ended up going with a CX-5. We just simply liked it better in pretty much every aspect.

I should add two points.

If you google around on this oil issue you’ll find that it’s still an issue with the newer models and that everyone’s experiences with the dealerships have been similarly frustrating with many people vowing never to buy a Subaru again.

Further, while we were buying Foresters for economic reasons, I’ve never been thrilled with them. Aside from the annoying issues the first one had, the trim just feels cheap and the engines all knock and diesel at idle. Further, while the all wheel drive is good for getting up hills, on level terrain it feels squirrely and I much prefer my front wheel drive Mazda 3 in winter weather.

That is what I am driving now, a Mazda 3 hatch. Its not very good in 6 inches of snow. :p

I will not be going to the Subaru dealer for a test drive. So maybe I’ll give the a Ford Escape a try in its place.

Got a Subaru 14 Crosstrek two summers ago and have put almost 30k on it and am really loving it. Good mpg, good awd, and pretty fun little crossover that looks good, imo. Read about the oil disappearing thing before I got it, but have always liked Subs and am glad I went with it. Now that I’m in the mountains of eastern Tennessee instead of the plains of Dallas, we’ll see how I survive the winter. Almost went with the Mazda 3 hatch (not sure why I was enamored with a hatchback, but I was/am) but once it was clear I’d be in a place to actually use awd, I went with the Sub.

Subs are freaking everywhere here, and are selling strong across the nation so they’re doing something right these days.

Looked at the Escape too, but I didn’t really dig the looks and once I learned it was just a raised Focus I stopped considering it (even though my Crosstrek is basically a raised Impreza). Still, it would be something worth looking at if you like the looks.

Mazda CX-5 if you want something higher than a 3 (I assume it’s got a higher clearance) if you are ok with fwd as the awd isn’t as good as the Sub from what I remember and cost more.

Jeeps…just no (unless you want a beater). Had a company discount that would have made a Compass/Patriot quite a bit cheaper than the Subaru but not worth the hassle. Engines dying at highway speeds, electrical issues, and bad seals (water making its way in during a simple carwash) turned me off pretty quick.

Yeah JEEP isn’t even on my radar, I have a co-worker who had the 9 speed transmission replaced in their new Jeep last year, with less than 10k miles on it, its the one with the led lights on the top front of it separate from the normal headlights, can’t remember the name, its sort of ugly. :p

My 0.02 is that the small CUVs are generally non-sporty, practical family transportation. In that light, I would consider embracing the uncool and go for reliability and practicality and value, which are the Toyota and Honda options.

One factor to consider is that the shift to smaller turbo motors. Small turbos are great, with extremely good mileage if you drive nice and gently. Drive normal and the mileage is the same. Some questions on reliability but they should be fine. A small turbo is available in the Hyundai and in the Ford.

My impression is that Subaru has superior AWD due to the way it routes power, so that’s a factor.

The new Tuscon is I think bigger than the others which is nice, and better looking (in line with the CX-5). And Hyundai is known to have more features. I’m skeptical of their long-term value and durability.

The CX-5 is on the whole a bit sportier and better looking. My impression of Mazda is that they start to rust (in winter climates) after 4 years. Note they say they’ve fixed this with every new model release since the 90’s.

Our next car will likely be one of these, my wife prefers the Escape for some reason (which may be enough to me :)), so let us know what you choose and why.

I have a used 2005 Lexus RX that I like a lot. New, they are a bit pricey and I dont know your budget constraints. I sure couldnt afford new. Anyway, they took comfort seriously in this vehicle. Lots of space and leg room. Very comfortable, fully adjustable seats. Good sight lines (with one blind spot you need to be aware of) Good mileage for its class. Im very happy with the one I got. The new ones are even better.

We’ll be in the market for an SUV next fall probably. We have a 12+ year old CR-V with well over 100k on it, and it runs like a champ. We’d be looking at another one for sure. We’ve had a Forester in the past, wasn’t terribly impressed with it but my wife liked it and it worked ok. Personally, I drive a GTI, but my wife is determined to get another AWD SUV. I’d like to go for the Mazda or the Ford, but I think she wants either another CR-V or the small Buick.

I’m a Volvo guy myself. XC60 if I had to get a cross.

XC60 is really nice, but its starting price is more than my maximum final price, hehe. :p

Gotta win the lotto!

Yeah, the Volvos are popular up here, and they’re nice cars (most of the line, not just the SUVs). But man, they are pricey. Not compared to their competitors, but they are operating in the strata above the Ford/Chevy/Honda/Toyota realm.

I’ll plug the Kia Sorento here again. I’ve owned mine since 2012 and it is far and away the best car I have ever owned in my nearly 30-year history of owning cars. 66,000 miles and I’ve had no serious mechanical issues and it drives as nicely today as it did off the lot in Feb. 2012. The only two issues I’ve had over that time were a loose receiver antenna that made my key fobs useless from more than 20 feet away (got that fixed the first year, been perfect ever since) and a weird noise coming from the front wheel wells that turned out to be a known issue with wobbly plates in the steering system (not a safety issue, just noisy) which KIA had an alert out for and the dealership replaced them free of charge (and would have even if I’d been out of warranty according to the service guy). In fact, KIA service has been fantastic throughout my ownership of the vehicle. You can’t beat the 60,000 mile bumper-to-bumper and 100,000 mile powertrain warranty either.

The 2016 Sorento just got a Consumer Reports recommendation in a recent issue. I drive mine to work and back every day and have taken my family of four on vacation to Florida (1800 mile round trip) several times as well as soccer-related trips to Washington D.C., St. Louis, Nashville, etc. and it’s roomy enough for all our stuff in the back and kids to be comfortable in the rear seats. I would suggest NOT getting the third row of seats (I’m glad I didn’t), as the vehicle really isn’t big enough for that and only small children fit back there, plus it eats up all the storage space. You should absolutely get the AWD, and I’d also recommend the package with the fog lamps for safety as well. I think you get those in the same package with the navigation system and backup camera, so it’s a nice all-around add-on. I don’t know if the GDI engine is an option anymore or if they just decided to make it standard now, but mine gets nice gas mileage (21-23mpg) in the city and excellent on the highway (I see 25-27mpg on long trips).

Hyundai and Kia are sister companies under the same corporate umbrella. The Santa-Fe is the Hyundai equivalent of the Sorento, with slightly different options and pricing structure, but the people I know who bought those are all just as happy as I am with my Sorento for what it’s worth.

Good luck car shopping!