Best Low Maintenance "Bullet Proof" Compact SUV?

[Lolvoguy]

Originally Posted By: 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.


Stay away from anything Turbo.


...that's all I have to add to this conversation.

 

[Leo99]

The trans has been making noises in my Rav for the past 200k miles. Keep driving it.

 

[Balrog006]

My '08 CRV AWD/4WD is nearing 240K miles and the only non maintenance wear item I have replaced is the AC clutch.

It's had new tires, brakes, a battery, some headlight bulbs, major service (plugs and serpentine belt) @every 105K, trans and diff every 30k and new oil and filter every 10K and still drives like new.

 

[PimTac]

Part of my research for new vehicles is to check out the forums for those particular cars. You can find out any quirks or serious issues beforehand.

 

[dwcopple]

Avoid GM and avoid CVT's. Best option would be keeping the Escape

 

[Andrew1972]

If you want the feeling of bullet proof and high resale when your son bails at 150k/9 year the RAV4. However with that mileage and age ANY compact SUV will do that he likes.....After the 9yr or 150k mark there are issues that crop up at greater frequency then before no matter the make or model.

 

[FutureDoc]

Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
Vehicle maintenance isn't their strong suit, but they do take the cars in for oil changes more or less on schedule.



Toyota, Toyota, and Toyota. Toyota translated equals "low maintenance bullet-proof vehicle"
Change the oil and drive. Toyota commuter-boxes run in spite of you.

That being said, if you want something that does not command the same used "premium" as Toyota...

MAZDA. Mazda will give you 99% of Toyota's gas-and-go reliability for about 10% less. I joke and say that Mazdas are the perfect Pizza delivery vehicles. They are reliable, easy to use, decent driving dynamics, and less expensive overall.

Avoid Subaru for gas-and-go folks. They last as long as dirt but need more small various maintenance items. I love Subarus but this is the type of potential owner who would feel burned when Subaru bites you for not doing the PMs in the manual. Subarus are not forgiving for putting something off. Yes, my old '99 Subie is still running (sold it to a coworker). It had 220K when I sold it and it is about 240-250K now and still running... but those are not "low maintenance".

I would shy away from Honda. Their drivetrains are generally good for gas-and-go (save for anything with a V6 and a Automatic, those are problem children) but everything else will need more work (brakes and suspension). They are good cars but not as forgiving as Toyotas.

Don't bother with anything domestic except maybe the Buick Encore. Domestics just have not been "trying hard" in the small SUV market for the most part. (See Jeep Compass). The one exception is the subcompact Encore. They can be had for a great price and Buicks are "Buick's division of correctly assembled vehicles". Granted, domestic can be more forgiving about abuse but they break regardless particularly at the pricepoint you might be looking at. I had a '04 Escape in my fleet (replaced with a joke-Journey). Did well until 120,000 and then got a round of work.... and then at 175,000 it gave up for us.

Kia/Hyundai? They are not going to be as good as a Toyota/Mazda, but they are less expensive to maintain and their cost/longevity would good. You can find a 1-3 year old Tucson for some great prices and while it will have more needs than the Toyota from 100K-200K, the 5 grand price up front should cover the repair for quite some time. Every time I do a cost/benefit, Hyundai/Kia tend to be very strong.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
MAZDA. Mazda will give you 99% of Toyota's gas-and-go reliability for about 10% less. I joke and say that Mazdas are the perfect Pizza delivery vehicles. They are reliable, easy to use, decent driving dynamics, and less expensive overall.


Do tell more please

[off-topic]
OP, sorry don't wan to detour your thread, but this is interesting. Good Post!
[/off-topic]

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: 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.


No kids, two dogs, but kids are in plan?
If so, get Toyota Highlander! I know you are talking compact SUV, but things change big time with kids and on top of that two dogs.
We have BMW that is decent in size, and compact SUV. Tiguan is great compact SUV with really good AWD for that type of vehicle, but it is for people who are DIY and know what they need to do to keep car going. However, even with one kid Tiguan is small. You bring all kind of stuff, and now, unless it is some city hoping, we use only BMW when go places. I know RAV4 has bigger interior as well as CR-V, but it is still based on compact cars. Highlander is forgiving. No turbo, bulletproof V6, bulletproof transmission. If money is a problem for larger SUV new, go with used Highlander second generation (up to 2014). it had really good AWD, ridiculously reliable transmission, 7 seats (though third row is kind of small). Plus, Highlander V6 is good for long trips, traveling over mountain passes fully loaded etc.
As others said: stay away from CVT and turbo if they are not maintenance oriented and do just regular oil changes. Again, regular oil changes=Toyota!

 

[earthbound]

Honda/mazda/subbie/yoda...pick your poison...hey those are all Japanese mfgs...huh...

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: earthbound
Honda/mazda/subbie/yoda...pick your poison...hey those are all Japanese mfgs...huh...


Pontual is that you?

 

[earthbound]

Nope..

 

[gofast182]

I'd shy away from the Forester due to Subaru's continued hit-or-miss engine reliability (not to mention cheap feeling interiors). A former coworker of mine recently had one with a blown engine at 120k and a front suspension failure at 80k.

The best play here is the RAV-4 or CR-V. The K24 engine in a used (and lower model of the outstanding 2017) CR-V is bulletproof and it should be nicer to drive.

 

[FutureDoc]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
MAZDA. Mazda will give you 99% of Toyota's gas-and-go reliability for about 10% less. I joke and say that Mazdas are the perfect Pizza delivery vehicles. They are reliable, easy to use, decent driving dynamics, and less expensive overall.


Do tell more please

[off-topic]
OP, sorry don't wan to detour your thread, but this is interesting. Good Post!
[/off-topic]


So, one of my best friends and graduate school classmate (Transportation Research Office) did the whole pizza delivery guy thing. One, he liked to drive. Two, his family owned a local shop and he preferred to be behind the wheel than in the kitchen. Watch how pizza delivery guys drive. It is scary fun. They drive hard, fast in local area. Not highway cruising but rather all road-race rallies. I recommend Mazda to anyone who drives hard and wants something reliable.

This is his spirit animal... ok, not a animal, but definitely his spirit. Now he has a MS in Civil Engineering. Go figure.

He is also the LEAST car-adapt person (with a Y chromosome) I know. He drives flat out and without a care of anything. If he drove it like someone stole it, it might add year to the longevity of the vehicle. I could hear him pulling into the driveway when he would visit because there would be tire squeal. Every open space was a floor-it scenario. Every trip was a race. Was he a bad driver... maybe, but he definitely was a horrific owner.

Could he change his battery? Nope. I offered to change his oil once because he could not remember when but he was too nervous about me doing it so he took it to Jiffy Lube. Granted, he could not maintain something but he would get it fixed and was dirt cheap about it. Finally before his Mazda3, he had Mitsubishi Mirage and the only reason he sold it was because it kept getting flat tires due to punctures (wonder why). Driving off on the shoulder due to speed, hitting curbs, and working in a construction zone will do that. He drove that Mazda3 to 260K before unloading it (mostly because someone backed into him and the AC stopped working and he did not want to put any money into it). He never had a major issue with the car. He did do the "uninformed" or sucker maintenance on occasion but he would be the classic gas-and-go person with a severe driving behavior.

He loves Madza now. Has a Mazda6. He now commutes 4-6 hours to engineering job "site" for work. Mazda does have better driving dynamics. His hard driving style will catch a Corolla out in a heartbeat. You can flog those cars like a Pizza guy and they will keep going. That is why I say they are the perfect Pizza Delivery vehicle. Hooning a reliable car that will take both the abuse and the cornering forces. They do not have the cost "premium" as Toyota or Honda. Plus they have a real decent hatchback.

 

[FutureDoc]

Originally Posted By: gofast182
I'd shy away from the Forester due to Subaru's continued hit-or-miss engine reliability (not to mention cheap feeling interiors). A former coworker of mine recently had one with a blown engine at 120k and a front suspension failure at 80k.

The best play here is the RAV-4 or CR-V. The K24 engine in a used (and lower model of the outstanding 2017) CR-V is bulletproof and it should be nicer to drive.


Other than the HG issues from the old EJs from 1996-2004 (and those are two different flaws), there is little wrong about Subaru's engines. Actually quite the opposite (Unless you want to geek out about tuned EJ257s). Heck, if you repaired the HG issue correctly (The Phase I was a machining error for subaru for boring out the 2.2 from 96-99 and the Phase II was a supplier error/lie about what their gaskets could do from 00-04... plus remember that Subies have 2 HG that could fail on your average 4 cyc), those EJ25 can easily be 500K+ engines. If you really want invincible, go look at the 3.0 (timing chain) or the 2.2 (non-interference timing belt). So, you could potentially avoid the 2.5 if you really wanted to. So far the FB engines have been great. Only big issue has been some early manufacturing errors in '12 in the block and that over-interweb-eded freakout oil use. (I think it is more of an issue with spec-ing 0w20 for a vehicle frequently used in the mountains as well as Subaru adding an oil-level light).

Now, that being said, Subaru are not tolerant of differed maintenance like other makes. If you do not change that timing belt at 105K intervals, then at 120K, those interference engines will go with the timing belt. Otherwise, the 120-140 is the HG range if they had an earlier faulty HG Subie. However, if you fixed it early, then it would be a few hundred bucks and you never have to worry about it again. If you drove on it... well... ouch. That is Subaru's difference compared to Toyota... they don't break but when they do are not as forgiving as Yotas.

As for the suspension, that is a wearing item issue. I can point to some Fords in my fleet that have collapsed suspensions at 40K. Why? massive speedbumps with the drivers hitting them at speed. I had the original suspension in my old '99 Subaru go 190K before it was replaced (ok, it should have been replaced at 160 but I digress). Those problems are more user created but you can piece some things like Chrysler or Honda suspension issues as it is a much more frequent item on the boards.

 

[PimTac]

Mazda is tough to beat. Another vehicle to consider is the Mitsubishi Outlander. Not the latest styling but solid engines and five star safety ratings. They usually are not on anyone's radar so you might be able to get a good deal on one. The GT model has the V6 6B31 engine with a six speed automatic while the 2.4 four banger has a CVT from Jatco which in fact is their latest and better version from a few years back when they had some issues.

 

[jstert]

i highly second the recommendation for a used toyota highlander. my mom passed her 2006 4cyl at 40k miles to my sister last year when she stopped driving. with regular maintenance it is utterly reliable, plus roomy and rattle free. the 4 cyl is solidly dull but certainly has enough power, gets 24mpg in suburban use. if kids are coming in the future you will need the room. i dumped a used 2012 rav4 after 10k miles as a squeaky rattle trap. even though im an empty nester i would take a larger highlander over a rav4 anytime.

 

[ryster]

Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
Vehicle maintenance isn't their strong suit, but they do take the cars in for oil changes more or less on schedule.


Kia/Hyundai? They are not going to be as good as a Toyota/Mazda, but they are less expensive to maintain and their cost/longevity would good. You can find a 1-3 year old Tucson for some great prices and while it will have more needs than the Toyota from 100K-200K, the 5 grand price up front should cover the repair for quite some time. Every time I do a cost/benefit, Hyundai/Kia tend to be very strong.


Kia/Hyundai still have a ways to go in long term reliability. My 5 year/70,000 mile experience with a 2011 Hyundai Sonata was less than impressive. 5 recalls while I had it (2 additional ones since I traded it.) Routine maintenance was more frequent than other makes I have owned, and Hyundai is a stickler for keeping up on maintenance. If you miss any maintenance, and have a warranty problem, they will deny a warranty claim.

I went in every 4,000-5,000 miles for oil changes, tire rotations, and "multi-point inspections". Dealer service was exceptional at first but as their business grew the quality of service degraded substantially.

By the time the car was 4 years old, it was burning 1qt of oil every 1,000 miles with no leaks of any kind. I was basically adding 4-5 qts between oil changes. Not sure why I bothered even changing the oil at that point haha.

Every morning when the car started, it smelled like pure fuel coming out of the exhaust. Even friends and family would comment about the horrid stench.

The serpentine belt squealed (and the battery light would come in at the same time) when driving in heavy rain. When I mentioned it to the dealer at the 30,000 mile service they said if there was a problem it would not be covered under warranty. The serpentine belt was considered a wear item not covered under the 5y/60K mile limited or 10y/100K mile powertrain warranty. Dealer looked at it and said the noise and light was "normal" and nothing to worry about. Continued to do it the whole time I owned it.

Thermostat failed and needed to be replaced, along with a whole new thermostat housing. Covered under warranty.

A/C, brakes, and suspension components were all weak points.

Transmission started hesitating severely around 50,000 miles, and was slamming into gear occasionally (like throw you forward in your seat slamming) by the time I traded it.

Squeaks and rattles galore. Seemed like a new one showed up every week. Dash, doors, console, rear parcel shelf, windows, etc. all were rattling.

Door latches would stop working in sub freezing temperature, and you would have to slam the doors several times in sub freezing temps in the hopes they would eventually latch. Treating the door latches with grease did nothing to alleviate the problem.

Paint quality, despite Hyundai saying is comparable to Mercedes-Benz level finishes, was iffy. Luster and finish was degrading quickly after 3-4 years despite constant care with nothing more abrasive than microfiber or chenille. Rock chips would start rusting within 1-2 days if not immediately touched up with a touch up stick.

Headlight plastic was delaminating/peeling on the inside of the lenses by the third year.

Based on my personal experience I would never recommend a new or used KIA/Hyundai product to anyone. Some people have had great luck with them, others not so much.

A Subaru Forester, Subaru Outback, Honda CR-V, or Toyota Rav4 are all great suggestions for the OP. If the OP is considering a Chevy Equinox or GMC Terrain, they should concentrate on the V6 models and avoid the 4cyl versions.

 

[NJ_Car_Owner]

I wouldn't hesitate to say Hyundai or Kia. I've owned 3 of them and I think they're great cars for the money.

I have a 2004 Sonata with 76,000 miles on it and other than the AC going maybe 9 years in and an alarm issue AFTER it had the front replaced due to an accident - no problems.

I also have a 2010 Elantra with about 78,000 miles on it and only problem was my son got something caught in the driver's seatbelt latch and it stopped working - Hyundai replaced it under warranty.

And we just traded in our 2007 Entourage with 111,000 miles on it. It had a rear main seal leak and IMO wasn't worth repairing. Other than a faulty battery when we first got it - it was flawless and relaible. I'm not a car person so I have no clue why the seal went as I did take care of that car the "proper" way. Design maybe - poor Jiffy Lube oils maybe.

As far as the finish - it got washed mostly when it rained and sometimes when we got a Jiffy Lube oil change (they gave out a $7 voucher). Finish is not at a $100,000 car level but all the finishes on my cars were/are in good condition.