Car Shopping - Small Crossovers

[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.

[surgtech1956]

My reason for needing 4x4 or AWD is that I live in Michigan, our road isn't plowed, I work in surgery and need to be able to get into work at anytime day or night.

[zoom-zoom]

My reason for needing 4x4 or AWD is that I live in Michigan, our road isn't plowed, I work in surgery and need to be able to get into work at anytime day or night.

Just to play Devil's advocate, we also live in MI...in the snowbelt right on Lake MI (av. seasonal snowfall here is 96º). Hubby has had a 30 mile commute for 10+ years and has never once not been able to get to work due to snow. He just has a FWD sedan with all-seasons. My small FWD car has Blizzaks in the Winter (no traction control, just killer awesome tires). He will take my car when things are especially bad. But we've never once needed AWD/4WD. We also live up in the sticks (northern Muskegon county--he works in n. Ottawa cty). As the economy has worsened they plow less. For the past 3 Winters we have been lucky to be plowed more than once/week.

As we talk about rising gas prices I have a hard time understanding how SUVs and heavy, gas-guzzling AWD/4WD systems are still selling. I don't think I'd want one even if the selling price were cheaper. The cost of ownership and maintenance is just too high. Heck, I won't even drive automatic after having to shell out to replace the transmission on my first car (just 6 months after buying it, no less).