<p>Sold the minivan. Need to replace it before D returns from study abroad.</p>
<p>Anyone do this comparison recently?
I’ll entertain all opinions, but please no ‘Buy American’ preaching.</p>
<p>I had a CRV with 5-on-the-floor, and I loved it. The gas mileage was great (25 city/29 hwy). It was comfortable, had great features, and had a rear door that opened left-to-right which was great for my DD since she is petite and had to get her trombone in the back. If the rear door had opened low-to-high, she would have struggled to close the door. The new CRV’s have rear doors that open low-to-high. I was sorry to see that change. Also, the CRV does have some road noise to it. Can be a draw back if you want a quiet ride. The only reason I don’t still have my CRV is that someone plowed their Expedition into the back of it at a stoplight (squishing it against a Ford Aerostar) while my kids were driving it to school. The CRV was totaled (she hit it doing 50 mph and never hit the brakes), but my kids were unharmed. The CRV kept my kids safe. That is a winning vehicle in my book.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can go too far wrong with any of these models if you are looking at buying a new car. You might also take a look at the Toyota RAV4. I have a preference for the Honda CRV - I’ve found my 06 model to be super reliable. I had looked at the RAV4 also, but the CRV was a better value.</p>
<p>For thanksgiving dinner, we should have 4 CRVs in the driveway, ranging from 10+ years old to this year’s model. Two are ours, my wife’s parents (who have previously owned 2 additional CRVs) and my wife brother’s. Great cars, very reliable. Both of ours are automatic, both of the visitors will be stick - no particular advantage there that I see.</p>
<p>One of ours has the left to right door, the other is new this year and the door opens up. Advantages to both. On hills, the left to right door tends to want to close itself which can be somewhat dangerous. The up and down door goes way up and I have a low garage ceiling so I have to watch banging it into the roof.</p>
<p>The new one is peppier, and the drivers area is better laid out. </p>
<p>Feel free to PM with questions</p>
<p>One thing that I have read about the CRVs is that the front seat headrests are uncomfortable. Any owners care to comment?</p>
<p>I switched from a Toyota Sienna to a CRV this summer. I have to say though, I found my Sienna more comfortable and obviously more spacious, but I’m adjusting.</p>
<p>My final decision was between the CRV and the RAV4. Having been a happy owner of Hondas in the past, and putting up with some strange repairs over the years on the Sienna, I decided to return to Honda.</p>
<p>When you test drive the CRV, be sure to make a note of your visibility through the back windows (look through the rearview mirror and see if you have good visibility behind you).
We were looking to buy a used CRV for one of our kids but after sitting in the driver’s seat, we didn’t feel that it had good rear visibility. Just out opinion, of course.</p>
<p>My father has the Santa Fe. It’s very comfortable and rides nicely.</p>
<p>I prefer Toyota over Honda.</p>
<p>I’ve rented everything at one time or another, and agree with the other suggestions in favor of RAV-4.</p>
<p>
I think they are terrible. I have a 2008 CR-V that I love in all other respects. But I drive it (almost 100 mile commute each day) with the driver’s head rest removed. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it when I test-drove the car. I like the seat back as close to vertical as possible, and in that position, the headrest pushes my head forward so that I can’t sit up straight. When I ride in the passenger’s seat and can set the seatback a little reclined, then the headrest is fine.</p>
<p>That said, we like the CR-V so much that we were within days of purchasing another one this summer when H’s job status changed. Now he’s still driving the 1999 CR-v model with almost 200k miles on it.</p>
<p>I also test-drove the RAV4 and preferred everything about the CR-V, including visibility, smooth ride and the design of the interior.</p>
<p>My husband has a CR-V. It’s an older model, with the left to right rear door open. Great for me, as I’m short and could not do the low to high hatch backs. It also has a more boxy look than what was changed to the following year. Can’t remember the year model, but my Camry is a 2004, and it’s older than that. It has been and still is a great car. He drove it at least every other weekend to and from Memphis to New Orleans for nine months and never had a problem with it, knock wood. My only complaint is the seat belts. Not comfortable for a lady with a big belly. The fold down console cup holders are not deep enough. But for safety, reliability, mileage, can’t go wrong. Husband has at least 140K miles on the car and we’re not looking to retire it soon. As I said, it’s an older model, so don’t know how the new ones will hold up. We did look also at the Highlander, but it was out of our price range at the time, but do like the ride they had. Have many friends with the Pilot, and if not happy with the changes to the CRV, would be worth a look. They have been very happy with it. Good luck!</p>
<p>We have been very happy with our 2009 CRV. It feels like a much bigger vehicle than it actually is. Leather interior is very nice. Sometimes would like a little more power than the 4 cylinder engine provides, but overall think it is great. You really have to test drive them.</p>
<p>When I saw the title of this thread, I assumed you were comparing colleges. :eek:</p>
<p>I love, love, love my Subaru Forester (also a minivan replacement). The Car Talk guys also recommend it-- [Car</a> Talk](<a href=“http://www.cartalk.com/content/testdrives/Reviews/subaru-forester-2003.html]Car”>http://www.cartalk.com/content/testdrives/Reviews/subaru-forester-2003.html). I once heard them tell a guy who was trying to choose between three $60K vehicles to buy three Foresters instead. My only complaint is that it is a little noisier than the minivan was. (We have been happy honda owners since the 80s; I think we went with the Forester instead of the CR-V because of the price and good reviews.)</p>
<p>Happy CR-V owner here. Actually, it’s a “family car,” meaning D drive it to HS for junior/senior year, then I drove it since it gets better mileage than my car, and then, when S got his license, he drove it for junior/senior year in HS. Now D has it in NC for senior year of college. No problems at all. H settled on the CR-V for its safety and good reviews.</p>
<p>Drove a Santa Fe as a car rental for a few days about a year ago. The quality of the car (interior and exterior) was better than I was expecting. And nothing more specific, but I remember I enjoyed driving it the few days I had it and the mileage wasn’t bad.</p>
<p>If you plan on driving the SUV for a lot of miles and keeping it for years, then I would go for the CRV or maybe a RAV4. I would pick the Santa Fe for a cost savings with a vehicle that is not going to be driven a lot of miles. Sorry, Chevy earned its current status. It is too bad that the taxpayer had to bail them out.</p>
<p>The Santa Fe is a pretty nice vehicle for the money and IMO by far the better looking of the 3 (and also the RAV4) but that’s of course, subjective. The Santa Fe is also made in the USA.</p>
<p>My D has a 2005 Hyundai Tucson and not a single thing has gone wrong with it yet.</p>
<p>If you’re still unsure you can try a couple of things - for each vehicle ask the dealer if you can drive a demo of the model for a day or alterntaively, rent one if you can either from the dealer or one of the normal rental agencies. Sometimes the cost of the rental is worth it since it’s not that much compared to the cost of the vehicle. When you drive a vehicle for about a day including around town, on the freeway, etc. you get a better idea than you do on a test drive, especially if there’s a sales person sitting next to you. If you rent one from the dealer then when you buy it get them to knock off the cost of the rental from the purchase price.</p>
<p>1moremom, I had a Forester for 5 years, just retired it (for D to drive next summer) with 160,000 miles on it and bought a Subaru Outback. The Outback is a bit quieter (but I did like my Forester very much!).</p>
<p>One thing to do is call you insurance agent and check the rate for each vehicle you are considering. I was thinking about a Subaru Impreza until I found out that is $400/year more :eek: to insure than the Outback. That made a difference in my decision.</p>
<p>The Subaru Forester was the Motor Trend SUV of the year for 2009 fwiw - </p>
<p>[2009</a> Subaru Forester - 2009 Motor Trend Sport/Utility Of The Year - Motor Trend](<a href=“http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/suv/112_0812_2009_subaru_forester_suv_of_the_year/index.html]2009”>http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/suv/112_0812_2009_subaru_forester_suv_of_the_year/index.html)</p>
<p>The Santa Fe and Rav4 have the option to seat 7 if you need that in a pinch (since you said you were going from a minivan).</p>
<p>We have always been a Toyota family. My sister a Honda family. When my oldest went to buy a used car with her own money she started off looking at the Corolla, Civic, Accord and Camry. She was directed to a Hyundai by a friend of a friend who owned a car dealership. We were apprehensive at first but she was able to get much more car for her money. She ended up with a car that still had some warranty left and with 40,000 less miles than the Honda and Toyota cars she looked at that were more money.
She had been extremely happy with her Hyundai.
I know many happy Suburu drivers. I think they make a nice looking car. If I was looking today I would definitely test drive one.</p>