Recommendations for New Small SUV

[Okie4570]

We sold our Excursion last summer and my wife bought a Rav4. She researched and test drove to the point of craziness and narrowed it down between the Rav4 and Forester. She went with the Rav4 AWD due to no Subaru dealer for over a 100 miles. She's been happy with it, gets good mpg, and is comfortable. It spends quite a bit of time on dirt roads and still doesn't have any rattles or leak dust.

 

[1911Sooner]

Lots of Murano owners I see. Things are damn near bullet proof.

 

[Biggsly]

Does your Outback use a lot of oil? We went to Outbacks as company cars and I haven't really cared for it. It rides much rougher than I expected and they all seem to use a lot of oil. We only keep them for 85k, then we get new ones. Mine has 44k and uses a quart about every 4k miles. Some guys use a quart every 2500 miles. They ALL use oil though. I had planned on getting my wife a Legacy but decided against it because of the oil issues.

My mom bought a 2014. Had it in 3 times for the oil, because she bought it new. She just traded it off for a Kia Sportage.

 

[Biggsly]

Like said earlier. Asking about cars is like asking about guns. Most everyone is going to tell you to buy what they have.
I am going to do the same. My wife drove chevy Suburbans from 1996 to 2012. That is when she told me that she wanted something smaller. I would have never looked at a Kia, until two OSA members talked me into it. We bought a new 2012 Sorento and drove the wheels off of it. We never had an issue. We traded it in last January for a new 2015 model. It has already been to STL a couple of times and to New Mexico a couple of times. We have not had any problems with it at all. I can't say that it is the best, but we are very happy with it.

 

[ronny]

Hard to beat happy!

 

[dennishoddy]

Like said earlier. Asking about cars is like asking about guns. Most everyone is going to tell you to buy what they have.
I am going to do the same. My wife drove chevy Suburbans from 1996 to 2012. That is when she told me that she wanted something smaller. I would have never looked at a Kia, until two OSA members talked me into it. We bought a new 2012 Sorento and drove the wheels off of it. We never had an issue. We traded it in last January for a new 2015 model. It has already been to STL a couple of times and to New Mexico a couple of times. We have not had any problems with it at all. I can't say that it is the best, but we are very happy with it.

My wife's Sorrento has served us very well. We have some dirt roads to drive on, and its not developed any dust leaks. Gets decent mileage while pulling the boat, and does very well on slick ice/snow.
We have a Very steep hill getting to our house from the main road. Vehicle before the Kia was a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. She lost traction twice going down that hill and ended up banging from ditch to ditch and bouncing off a couple of trees.
The Kia has a down hill, up hill traction assist. Not sure how it works, but it works for her and she no longer has that issue the jeep did.

 

[crrcboatz]

Looks like the Subaru Forester was given the award for best small suv.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cars/best-cars-top-picks-2016/

Check the 2016 Buying Guide. There you will find a number of areas CR lists the rating of each for a respective vehicle. Compare the 2015 and 2014 model Mazda 5 with the Forester. Count the ratings by highest to lowest. You will find the Forester has more lower ratings in the areas than the Mazda. NO other vehicle has fewer ratings less than the highest than Mazda.

 

[YukonGlocker]

Check the 2016 Buying Guide. There you will find a number of areas CR lists the rating of each for a respective vehicle. Compare the 2015 and 2014 model Mazda 5 with the Forester. Count the ratings by highest to lowest. You will find the Forester has more lower ratings in the areas than the Mazda. NO other vehicle has fewer ratings less than the highest than Mazda.

Do you have a link to it? BTW: I think the Mazda 5 is a great vehicle. I almost bought one. I just preferred the Subaru Outback.

 

[crrcboatz]

Do you have a link to it? BTW: I think the Mazda 5 is a great vehicle. I almost bought one. I just preferred the Subaru Outback.

No link all that stuff is in the CR Auto guide they mail you as part of the membership. With regard to the Outback it is not listed as an suv rather a wagon. It is also a much larger vehicle than the 5 series Mazda.

 

[YukonGlocker]

No link all that stuff is in the CR Auto guide they mail you as part of the membership. With regard to the Outback it is not listed as an suv rather a wagon. It is also a much larger vehicle than the 5 series Mazda.

Oh, ok. I don't put that much faith in Consumer Reports anyway. The Outback isn't much larger than the Mazda 5, but the little extra storage space it has was one thing that helped me decide on the Outback over the Mazda 5. Like I said, I really like the Mazda 5...just like the Outback better!