Car Shopping - Small Crossovers

[surgtech1956]

I'm car shopping - my lease will be up in June, thinking about buying instead of leasing, undecided right now. I'm thinking about a small crossover vehicle. Something like a Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-7, Nissan Rogue, Honda CR-V or ??? Any comments on any of the small crossover vehicles? I really need AWD(or 4WD).

[FlyingScot]

Subaru Forester!!!!!

[surgtech1956]

Forgot to add the Forester to my list. Subarus are not that popular in my area, but I've been reading some excellent reviews on them.

[GLC1968]

I have two more suggestions to consider - but they are a bit smaller than the cars you've listed.

We have a 2005 Toyota Matrix that has been an EXCELLENT car. Truly. Ours has 115K miles on it and it's given us not a single ounce of trouble. We didn't opt for the AWD option (since we lived in the south when we bought it) but it is available.

We also now have a 2011 Mini Cooper Clubman on order. When we picked it out, I test drove the MINI Cooper Countryman (4dr, AWD) and liked it a lot. The Clubman suited us better, but the Countryman was really nice and might be worth considering.

[Jolt]

How about the Suzuki SX4? It's a little smaller than the other cars you mentioned but may be worth a look depending on how much room you need.

[westtexas]

I love my 2008 Honda CT-V. I've got about 43k on it now and it's never needed anything other than the occasional oil change and gasoline. For a small SUV it holds a lot (the weight limit load for it says 750lb, including passengers, but I've had up to 1200lbs in it). I've pretty much used mine as a truck, dog/cat hauler, moving van, etc. and my friends always ask me to drive because riding in the back is actually comfortable. It gets great gas mileage too. I think the rating it came with was 19/23 but I actually get 24/30 and I'm a huge lead foot (not a speeder though, just a quick accelerator).

HTH!

[Bike Chick]

I'm so very fond of the Subaru Outback but since any car in our household has to be union and American made, the Subaru is out. I'm looking at the 2011 Ford Explorer right now. Very, very, nice and good gas mileage.

[ASammy1]

My father LOVES his Dodge Journey and since you're from MI (me too!), I know how hard it is to support the foreign auto makers there.

[goldfinch]

I just went through shopping for the same thing. I also had the Toyota Rav4 on the list, priced comparably to Honda CRV, and the Hyundai Elantra Touring, which is like of like a long hatchback. I looked at the smaller ones too, like the Matrix.

Yesterday I bought the Rav4. The reasons:

Very comfortable to drive. The sitting position is great.
The back area is large--I can put my bike in it without even taking a wheel off. Even though the Honda CRV is comparable in size the way the back seats fold down leave a lot less room for hauling things.
The mileage is decent.
The hatchbacks were too small for my needs.
I got a good price for a two wheel drive four cylinder with no bells and whistles.
It is a toyota, it should last.
Prices are going up on vehicles that have Japan made parts so I decided to go for it now.

[nscrbug]

Have you considered the new Nissan Juke? I test drove one a few months back, and I absolutely LOVED it! Plus I like the fact that it doesn't look like all the other crossover vehicles out there...it's a little unique looking. It is definitely on my short list of vehicles that I'm considering.

Another one on my list is the Hyundai Tucson. They did a really nice job of restyling that vehicle...I think it looks great, and you can't beat Hyundai's 100,000 mile warranty.

[lawnchick22]

I recently bought a 2006 Rav4...Love love love it. It's a graduation gift for my son. I was between a crv and the Rav...rav won out. I already drive a Tundra, and know Toyotas are great vehicles.

I also hauled my bike into work this week without taking a wheel off and had plenty of room to spare.

I'm checking mileage now...prior owner said about 25 mpg in the city..pretty good, esp since it is a V6. Has great power MORE bells and whistles than my son needs, but it was a great deal....it's gonna be hard to give it up come June.

[surgtech1956]

I'm going to check out the RAV4, back in the 80's I owned a Toyota and it was a great vehicle. I'm going to go drive some vehicles in the next week and a half.

[pumpkinpony]

The Kia Sportage is based off the Hyundai Tuscon frame... I just poked my nose into a friend's parents Kia and it looks darn near the same, even the same trim style inside.

I have a Hyundai Santa Fe (slightly bigger) and love it. It's AWD. The back is big enough that I can put the road or mountain bike in it laying flat without having to take a wheel off. If you only fold down one side of the rear seat, my road bike will lean up against the seat just fine which gives more room for other stuff. With a couple of Saris Traps and a 2x4 you can put two or more in the back with the front tires off.

It gets pretty good mileage. If I set the cruise at 65 on the highway it'll show 26.5 avg. Of course that goes down if you go faster...

[Irulan]

Just curious... why do people think they HAVE to have AWD? Now, before everyone gets huffy... I am a former Subaru owner, and DH keeps a 4x4 rig for work. I live in a four season community. We get some serious snow at times. This is not a judgment, just a call for discussion

When I was new car shopping in O8, I made a conscious decisions to skip AWD primarily for mileage concerns. It saved a few thousand dollars on the car, too. Instead I got a great front wheel drive with traction control, put a set a snow wheels and top of the line snow tires on it in the winter (blizzaks) and it gets around just great. The only time i ever have issues is when the snow is deeper than the front end of my car. Who wouldn't when it's that deep? Plus I am a skier and do lots of trip to the mountain where there is even MORE snow... Shoot when I lived in Colorado @ 8000 feet and had front wheel drive w/snow tires, my traction was just as good or better at times than 4x4.

Sometimes I think we've all snowed by the car companies for what it takes to get around safely in the snow.

[jeremywe]

Nancy,

Before turning your lease in, you should first find out what the purchase price is. Used car prices are at historic highs right now so it's likely that your end of lease purchase price is below market value.

you can potentially make a profit by buying and selling your leased vehicle. Most states allow a 10 day grace period on paying taxes if you buy and sell a car within this time period.

Here is more detail on this process:
http://www.realcartips.com/leasing/0...e-buyout.shtml

A lot of people are leaving money on the table with leases these days.