I have just bought a 2006 RAV4 Sport...
I have to say I was really impressed with it! I pretty much considered all Small SUV entries in my "buy " process and this new bigger RAV4 definitely offers more value for money!
I looked at the Koreans , the north americans and the Japanese.
As for the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson and Satana Fe, their cheap looking interior, past reliability and the fact they still do not keep their value well turned me off. Most people I know who have owned Huyndai cars have sworned them off forever. I know they are better cars now than they were a couple years back (I would go for a Hyundai before a GM actually) and in all honesty, I haven't spoken with a late model Huyndai owner but I just couldn't get past this bad connotation in my mind... I did seriously look at the Sorento, which is more mid size, as I always though it looked like a $50K SUV when you see it on the street, but in the end, couldn't get over my Korean car block and buy it. Plus it's hefty gas consumption comared to the RAV4 help seal its fate.
GM had nothing that really interested me except for the Saturn Vue V6 - Red Line, I'm still hearing horror stories about that 3.4L power plant and was not intersted in finding out if the last generation is any better long term. The Honda engine and tranny in the Saturn Vue really interested me and made it a real contender. As for the Ford Escape, well...
The Japanese cars held my interest the most. I though the Grand Vitara offered tremendous value for money, I really liked the styling of the Mazda CX-7 (basically a Murano for 5-7K less!) and the Toyota RAV4 had the biggest and baddest engine (with a comparable or lower gas mileage than it competitors). I was not interested in the Honda CRV and the X-trail (why? their comparable in price only since their both smaller in size, have only 4 cylinder available and I was interested in the power of a 6 for towing capability and offered less standard features). The Grand Vitara offered a car with tons of standard features for considerably less, it's only drawback was it's size and the gas mileage on it's V6, but I did like it's look quite a bit. The CX-7 was probably the most fun to drive with the sequential 6 speed automatic shifter and turbo boosted 2.3L to 244HP. But it gets pricey if you want the AWD and the gas mileage is one of the worst in that category. Plus the fact that it's a turbo on a 2.3L 4 DISI, I think that long term wear and tear will take it's toll. This left the RAV4 Sport V6 AWD. I though it was well equipped (Toyota could have done better with side curtain air bags), definitely had the best engine in it's class (3.5L with the most HP and more than decent gas mileage for that kind of power) plus you get Toyota quality. I have a mechanics in the family who swears by Toyota and this is my first time owning one so my expectations are high!
H
