Small suv's

[gsteichen]

We're looking for a small suv that -
-my wife can commute in (decent mileage)
-drives and handles well (road trips with me at the wheel)
-has room and flexibility to replace my Tundra 4dr 4x4 on road
trips/moderate off-road adventures. Love my truck but a gas hog.
-dresses up well (leather, nav etc.

Love the v6 in the Rav, pretty much hate everything else about it. Saturn Vue sucked, don't know why the press is pumping it. CRV is boring but functional etc.

Looked like the CRV was the winner till we drove the Subaru Forester yesterday. Really like this car! Handles great, o.k. 4 banger response, capable off-road and decent interior. Layout is really great, some hard plastic and too much fake chrome but not bad.

Any and all input appreciated!

[SexyLxy]

Go for the STI model then you can kick it with us at the track. :P

[Vettezuki]

We're looking for a small suv that -
-my wife can commute in (decent mileage)
-drives and handles well (road trips with me at the wheel)
-has room and flexibility to replace my Tundra 4dr 4x4 on road
trips/moderate off-road adventures. Love my truck but a gas hog.
-dresses up well (leather, nav etc.

Love the v6 in the Rav, pretty much hate everything else about it. Saturn Vue sucked, don't know why the press is pumping it. CRV is boring but functional etc.

Looked like the CRV was the winner till we drove the Subaru Forester yesterday. Really like this car! Handles great, o.k. 4 banger response, capable off-road and decent interior. Layout is really great, some hard plastic and too much fake chrome but not bad.

Any and all input appreciated!


If I were in the market for what you describe, I'd probably be ending up with a the same conclusion (Forester). FWIW, Forester owners seem to have a high degree of satisfaction with their purchase. I don't hear "wish I didn't do that, or what POS" from them.

The STi would be cool, but mpg is obviuosly going to suffer (requires premium?), and I don't think it's "essential" for what you describe.

JMO.

[SeanPlunk]

Yeah, the Forrester would be my pick too. Consumer reports rates them high as far as reliability too. Get the turbo, gas will be back to $3.00 before you know it :rolling:

[gsteichen]

We're going with the Forester, sorry, no turbo (wife has a very heavy foot and commutes 50 mi/day:(). Launched the paperwork today, picking it up on Saturday in Irvine. The leather/nav system models are in REALLY short supply, the Irvine dealer was the only one that had trim/color that we wanted. Talked to 5 dealers, all confirmed that most of the next shipment coming in later this month is pre-sold. Looks like de-geeking the styling while retaining the Subaru heart and spirit is a winner.

I'm relieved that I won't be driving a CRV. Competent enough for commuting/minor hauling but they've just got no soul. Plus, I'll be able to find the Sub in a parking lot.

[SeanPlunk]

What color?

[gsteichen]

The darker silver w/grey interior.




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[Sonic03SVT]

Any reason you guys didnt try out an Edge? My mom just picked one up a month ago and ill tell you what, its a hell of a little crossover/suv...thing. TONS more go than i expected, loads of cool features (sync is fun as hell!), and wholly respectable gas milage. Really is a very nice car, one of the few truly modern cars Ford has goin right now.

[gsteichen]

We are long-ime Toyota/Honda owners and, in all honesty, never concidered anything from the (former) big three, bias admitted. What sealed the deal was driving the Forester and coming to understand it's combination of features, comfort and off-road ability. One of our favorite things on vacation is to see a dirt road heading God knows where and making the turn just for the adventure. Sometimes it sucks, but often we discover someplace really cool. The Sub will allow us to gain 40-50% :bigthumbsup:in fuel efifciency on road trips where we don't need the room and grunt/ground clearance of my Tundra while retaining these oportunities for serendipity:D.

[SeanPlunk]

Does it look like this?

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z260/akmaloney/P1000615.jpg

[gsteichen]

Our's is steel silver metalic, kinda between silver and grey, with the platinum leather interior. I'll post pic's later.

[SeanPlunk]

I saw one on the road yesterday - I really like how they look. Also, the 20/26 MPG for something with AWD is not bad at all. I'm really impressed with the redesign. I can't think of basically any vehicle for the price that is such a great combination of onroad/offroad capability.

[gsteichen]

Along with the off-road/bad weather capability it's really a great freeway ride. Well-balanced steering (w/an amazing turning radius) wonderful ride quality, etc. Only down side is a little more road noise than I'd like. I'd like to do beers with the Subaru engineers, this car is just so intuitive, with nothing done just for flash. Sinple clean and straightforward. Unlike others in it's class, the view in all directions is WIDE open with no obstructions or sweepy curved roof lines to block vision. All in all, seems like a great balance, I'll let you know more as we settle in.

One last thing, the engine seems to have a lot more bottom end torque than the CRV or RAV 4 banger.

[SeanPlunk]

I thought you were going to be in Colorado on Vacation, but if want to come on with us on our cruise through Angeles Crest this Saturday, it would be a perfect way to break in the Subaru :thumbs_up: