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Any other 2-SUV families?

The Right Car for Me | TrueDelta

Member4193

This is a kicking-tires question...

I've often thought about trading in my car for something I actually like. I have a standard Impreza with 70000 flawless miles on it. The car is solid but I don't really enjoy driving it, and my 4-person family doesn't like it, so we're always taking the SUV for jaunts around town.

As I lookaround at all the possibilities (nicely appointed standard or premium compact or mid-sized sedan), there's no vehicle that stands out. I'm wondering if I should expand my range to include SUVs. We had a Forester which I really liked for its rock-solid tuna-can feel, and now we have a Pilot, which it great, but for me I want something more agile and smaller.

I think we'd otherwise fall into the standard mom-drives SUV and dad-drives sedan family, but maybe we could be a 2-SUV/crossover family? Has anyone gone this route? I definitely don't need any of the advantages of an SUV like clearance, ease of ingress, interior space, a hatch - but this is more for variety of choice.


Priorities: Quietness / Interior styling / Driving position & visibility

Need minimum of 4 seats

Will consider both new and used cars
Maximum mileage: 100000
Maximum age: 5 years

Maximum price: US $ 40000

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Response from Dnslater

7:58 am April 27, 2017

It sounds like you are looking for more philosophical responses and not actual vehicle options. What is it about SUV's that you value versus a sedan? Do you appreciate the driving position? The Hatch back? The space? Sedan's can certainly have the same "solid" feel and they handle better and get better mileage. I agree that many sedan's are somewhat boring in the styling department and SUV's can sometimes have a more rugged image, if image is what you are looking for?

You might also consider other hatchbacks or consider wagon's as some of them can be fun performers while being different from garden variety sedan's. Your wife drives a family vehicle, so you could look at it as an opportunity to drive something fun. Crossovers and SUV's tend not to be agile/fun to drive when compared to lower vehicles as they are heavier and have higher center of gravity.

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Volkswagen Golf Alltrack
Volvo V60
Mini Countryman

Response from Member4193

9:04 am April 28, 2017

Right, it is more of a philosophical question. Let me rephrase: In general terms, what is the difference between a smaller SUV and a compact/midsized Sedan/Hatch?

I think that the answer is: the shape, ingress/egress, and clearance (am I missing anything?). To an extent it used to be fuel economy, but that difference is getting less obvious these days. So if SUV characteristics don't matter, then would you automatically assume a person should choose a sedan/hatch/wagon instead? Are there obvious drawbacks to an SUV? I guess I was fishing to see if others have had experience not caring the type, and if ending us as a 2-SUV household had downsides in the end.

Hopefully this explains where I'm coming from. These are my requirements then:

- Not large. Definitely no longer than 190" (that's the length of my driveway).
- Quiet in the interior. doesn't need to be best-in-class, but better than average
- Lively driving dynamics - so I can feel the road, but not necessarily what car guys would call "fun" - I don't need a lot of power. But I certainly don't want a sports car/unrefined feel that transmits every bump
- Agile - meaning tight turning radius for city parking, confidently switch lanes on the highway in traffic, confident for safety-minded evasive maneuvers

Nice to have, but not required:
-Useful ergonomic niceties
- Generally good looking, maybe even premium looking
- Good for DIYer, with reasonable maintenance costs

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Response from Dnslater

11:40 am April 28, 2017

Thank you for the added information. Generally the sacrifice when going from a car to a crossover SUV are a little extra weight and the higher profile creates more wind noise and reduces mileage. Also higher center of gravity impacts handling. You already hit on the advantages..... ease of entry, sometimes more room because of added height. Increased ground clearance.


Your description of needs actually makes me think immediately of the Mazda CX-5 or CX-3. They are good looking, have nice interiors, and are known to have very good driving dynamics, for an SUV. They also are one of the few to still use non turbo engines which helps a little on maintenance/reliability. When you get the higher trim levels, the CX-5 can feel very premium.

If you want to jump up to the luxury level, the BMW X1/X3 are known to be good performers. I've heard good things about the Mercedes GLA, which is sort of a raised hatchback and has good performance and handling. The Infiniti QX30 actually uses the same platform as the Mercedes and is similarly known for it's handling. You will pay a bit more for maintenance with these luxury brands however.

Edit: I accidently tagged the CLA on the photo to the right, and not the GLA, which is the SUV.

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Mazda CX-5
Mercedes-Benz CLA
Infiniti QX30

Response from NormT

2:30 pm July 10, 2017

If you can wait for near-luxury raised wagon the 2018 Buick Regal TourX will hit allot of marks. It'll handle like sedan, have AWD with torque vectoring rear and able to put power to only wheels with traction, and low maintenence turbo-4 that is plenty peppy.

The 2016 Buick Envision Premium l cones standard with many luxuries, AWD with torque vectoring, turbo-4, Hyperstrut and there are a few remaining under $30,000 if you shop. The Envision is what I have and it scoots!

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Buick Envision
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