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2014 Toyota Rav4 or 2014 Kia Sportage-Looking for reliability and ride quality over all else

The Right Car for Me | TrueDelta

Member6644

Looking for reliabilty and handling as main features. I want low repair costs.

Priorities: Reliability & durability / Handling / Warranty, maintenance cost

Preferred Bodystyle(s): SUV

Car Needs: Daily commuter

Need minimum of 2 seats

Will consider both new and used cars
Maximum mileage: 35000
Maximum age: 4 years

Maximum price: US $ 18000

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Response from Roccaas

10:38 am January 25, 2016

Toyota quality world class. Koreans are getting there, but there's a reason they offer 100,000 mile warranty and lower MSRP.

Try CRV?

Solid as Toyota, new model coming, deals on current model. If Toyota ride is 100%, Honda is 95%.

Koreans feel like Toyota/Hondas were in 2004, not quite as elegantly engineered rude and noise wise.

Also Forester? Built like a tank, rides like one also.

A rich an hyper competitive market segment. You can get what you want, work the dealers against each other.

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Response from mkaresh

11:59 pm January 25, 2016

The RAV4 should be very reliable, and handles pretty well, but rides harshly, possibly the worst in the class in this area. A CR-V rides somewhat better but handles far worse.

I thought the current Forester rode very well, handled very pleasantly (but not at all sporty), and will probably be reliable. (Earlier Subarus haven't aged well. The current ones are better so far.)

The 2014 Sportage is good but not great in just about every way.

Your best option could be the Mazda CX-5. Very good handling (for the class), good ride, and (so far) very good reliability.

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Mazda CX-5

Response from Member6644

7:25 pm January 26, 2016

Thanks for the assist-I did try a few CRV's but I found the ride extremely lacking, and underpowered.

My wife bought a Hyundai Santa Sport Turbo, and it is a very fun car to drive, although the ride is a bit bumpy.

I own a '97 Toyota Camry, so the RAV4 felt familiar and comfortable.

I like the Subaru Forester, but I am having a hard time finding one under $23-25k with low mileage.

I am still going to test drive a Mazda CX5 and Kia Sportage before I decide.

I really appreciate this site and the time people take to assist.

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Response from zcd1

9:11 am January 31, 2016

2 things about the Sportage:
1)The good looks unfortunately include small-ish windows, so visibility isn't as good as it should be given the SUV vehicle type
2)The ride isn't great - the suspension tuning is from the "bad old days" of Kia/Hyundai. It's not awful, it's just a bit unrefined. They keep learning though, with revised models being fully class-competitive in this area.

Another vehicle worth checking out might be the Ford Escape. Impressive ride/handling balance and power in the upper models. Downside is that fuel economy isn't stellar.

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Ford Escape
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