Best Low Maintenance "Bullet Proof" Compact SUV?

[LoneRanger]

My son and his new wife are needing to replace the trusty 2008 Ford Escape. She's been through a lot, including a three or four mile drive on a dry no-oil-in-the-sump run back in 2011 @ 67,000 miles. Approaching 140,000 now. Still sounds good under the hood, but just getting time to think seriously about replacing. Trans shifting pretty hard, not worth putting too much $$ into the car at this point I'd say. The 100,000 mile full-on $ervice was performed a few yrs ago before they got married and he still lived here, I helped him out on the expense of that due to his still being in college and all. This is the Ford 2.3L not the Mazda derived 2.5 in the later Escapes.

They have two medium size dogs and no kids (yet!!). Vehicle maintenance isn't their strong suit, but they do take the cars in for oil changes more or less on schedule.

Cost to get in will be a big factor as well and likely they may look at pre-owned off-lease cars about two yrs old; what dealer's used to call "program cars" or whatever.

 

[Astro14]

RAV4 has a good reputation. But you'll pay a bit of a premium for that reputation.

My step son bought a CRV (2012) last year - very nice mini SUV. No kids, two dogs and a cat...

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: LoneRanger

Cost to get in will be a big factor as well and likely they may look at pre-owned off-lease cars about two yrs old; what dealer's used to call "program cars" or whatever.



And Honda and Toyota are lousy deals used vs new. If this is the case, look at the escape/equinox.

You have a forester. They can be had with MT. I cant think of anything much more bulletproof than a stripped, MT Forester.

 

[gathermewool]

Sounds like it's still running well. You don't mention anything that leads me to believe it's unreliable.

I'd say keep it until they have their first kid, if the plan is to start soon. They'll know then whether more kids will be a definite, a distinct or remote possibility, or no way! kind of thing. We planned on up to four before we got married. After our first, well, we're thinking two is fine. A Forester or pretty much any sedan or CUV will meet our needs. 3+ and we'd opt for something larger.

 

[sopususer]

Another vote for the Forester. Any of the options mentioned so far will be adequate, but IMHO the Subaru AWD system is head and shoulders above anything else mentioned so far. Good for snow country if needed.

 

[QuietPortage]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger

Cost to get in will be a big factor as well and likely they may look at pre-owned off-lease cars about two yrs old; what dealer's used to call "program cars" or whatever.



And Honda and Toyota are lousy deals used vs new. If this is the case, look at the escape/equinox.

You have a forester. They can be had with MT. I cant think of anything much more bulletproof than a stripped, MT Forester.

I had one; a 2013. The only option that I can recall was alloy wheels. It was sturdy. The Toyota and Honda options are nice too.

 

[Danh]

I'd avoid anything with direct injection, turbocharging or CVTs if simple/reliable/durable is the primary objective. This leaves the RAV4 or a 2.5 liter Escape if shopping new. As other have noted, Japanese brands tend not to be great used car values, leaving the 2.5 liter Escape as the used/CPO choice. Slim pickings...

 

[ARB1977]

Our 08 CRV has been soid. Easy to maintain. Although I'm a little over due for a valve adjustment. Sitting at 160K.

 

[BrocLuno]

Keep it and service it. The cash they save will help with other young married expenses.

New, or even new'ish, used vehicles are a depreciation money pit. You can loose $10K in a year easy. Be hard pressed to put $10K into the Escape ...

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Keep it and service it. The cash they save will help with other young married expenses.

New, or even new'ish, used vehicles are a depreciation money pit. You can loose $10K in a year easy. Be hard pressed to put $10K into the Escape ...


+1 on keeping it. What about a Mazda CX-5 or CX-3 when the time comes?

 

[Donald]

Forester. Great car, good price.

 

[LoneRanger]

Agreed on Forester, mine is the mt and been good so far. Neither can drive a stick however, so auto trans a requirement.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Occam's razor: The principle can be interpreted as stating Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.

As stated earlier in this thread, simple and proven is better then new and unproven.

 

[Red91]

I know how to drive a manual and an old car with manual drums...and know several people my age who'd rather drive those vehicles. So, where are you getting your info other than a derogatory bias? Don't get me wrong, I know of kids who don't even know such things exist, but I know plenty of people who are baby boomers and generation X who also can't drive manuals. This generation bashing is nothing but [censored].

Chevy Blazer of Jeep Cherokee as far as recommendation on a small SUV. You can repair and rebuild these things for decades and for less money than a new one.

 

[LeakySeals]

A Subaru Forester is now considered to be an SUV? Wow.

 

[E150GT]

I had a Mazda Cx5 and I really liked it. I just couldn't stand an automatic anymore. That lasted 8 months and I traded it for a manual Mazda 6. I hauled my 85 pound dog all over in that thing. My sister has two kids under 4 and she drives a Cx5 as well.

 

[DuckRyder]

Is there some sort of budget?

Does it have to be a CUV because it sounds like an Outback might be a decent choice...

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
RAV4 has a good reputation. But you'll pay a bit of a premium for that reputation.

My step son bought a CRV (2012) last year - very nice mini SUV. No kids, two dogs and a cat...



If they're looking at AWD, I'd shy away from Toyota...that was the weak point on my "RAV6". $3500 repair just out of warranty, and the indy Toy shop told me they saw that same repair over and over.

The auto transmission on the new Jeep Cherokee has been a major problem, I was 99% sure I was going to buy one until the test drive ruined everything. Just have to worry about my DIT blowing up now...

 

[JustinH]

Had a 4wd rav4, it was pretty decent to us.

Traded it for more than I paid for it, and drove for 2-3 years.

They seem to hold a pretty penny in value.

 

[rubberchicken]

The Equinox is on its last model year, about to be replaced with a brand new design at any time. I am not sure if they are close to fire-sale prices yet, and used ones should go down as well. That said, I bought a 2017 Ford Escape for the wife - 2.0 L turbo, AWD, towing package to 3500 lbs. She loves it, and I got 29 mpg on a highway trip a few weeks ago. Car and Driver rated it higher than RAV4 and CRV in that particular test. The Equinox is well liked overall by owners. We looked at CRV and Rav4 , but they are so much more expensive: generally in my area you pay list price for those models, while I got the Escape for $4-5k under list. I also tried to stay away from CVT since I know there will be some towing involved.