A crew cab truck wouldn't be bad either if shes going to be hauling trash. The ones I'm looking out for are the 05 Frontier cc and 05 Tacoma cc. Also waiting to see the 05 Xterra SUV being shown in April. Think all of them will be out by nov. The Pilot, Highlander, CRV etc all are too bland for me. Safety is nice, but I don't want to drive around in a shoebox.

 

haha good point 1sicklex. rx300's are great cars too, lexus/ toyota. My sister drives one and she just loves it and has not had a single problem. The moms looking at the new rx330's or gx470's. The old man is whipping around a lx470. Last bit of adivce from me I promise, Lexus/Toyota or Honda/Acura=Smart choice. HINT HINT

 

Subie forrester without a doubt. it's a no brainer. go drive one and you'll see.

 

NO question about the MDX, cause I've got a 2003 MDX Touring Navi/RES.........Electronic All Wheel Drive !

 

Well, as long as your looking at the subaru, test drive a Baja ... I heard they came out with a turbo this year. Much too small to be practical but you might as well take it for a ride!

 

http://www.edmunds.com/news/autoshow.....leftnav.10.*

Small, cheap, 100K warranty!

 

I’m kind of partial to the RAV4 myself.
Probably because there’s one that occupies the other half of my garage.

 

My dad just bought a Toyota Highlander a few weeks ago.
If your budget will allow something in the 30,000+ range, I would suggest a look at one of those as well.

Shawn S

 

Pilot or a Subaru..cant go wrong.

 

Shawn - How do you like the Rav4? That may be our next vehicle... The wife wants something SUV-ish, and I don't think it'll be a fullblown one, like a MDX...

It seems to have many advantages over the CR-V, like heated seates, upgradable everything...

Curious on your thoughts.

 

It’s the wife’s vehicle so I don’t drive it much, but she loves it.
With only 148HP under the hood I think it’s a little underpowered, but it’s surprisingly willing to run when you floor the pedal.
The 2004 model has addressed this by upping the power to around 162 or so.
We took it down to Maryland last year and I drove the entire way.
Merging onto Interstates without the power of my 6-Speed took some getting used to, but it did OK.

The 4WD is awesome. You just can’t get this thing stuck.
With about 8-9 inches of snow on the ground I drove it into an unplowed parking lot to “play” and I could hardly make the tires spin in the snow before they dug in.

I love the look. I think it looks like a mini Bimmer X5.
When the weather is nice, it basically drives like a front wheel drive CAR.
The back seats tumble forward or come out all together for more room.

Our second choice was the Honda CRV, but I hated the black bumpers on that thing.
With the longer body and small back window, the CRV felt like I was driving a minivan.
The RAV4 is definitely more “agile” and has more of a sports feel to it.
And for a 20,000 dollar Japanese built vehicle, the paint and interior have a better finish then my US built Acura.

If you want to know anything more specific, let me know.

Shawn S

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

thats kinda funny shawn cause I think the CRV drives much sportier then the RAV4. Ive taken both through road courses and I felt the CRV was much quicker and agile. Rav4 was good too, but i loved the CRV. the 5spd version is even more fun to drive.

 

I don’t see how.
The CRV has an extra 20HP, but it’s also like 15” longer and a few hundred pounds heavier.
And I compared the CRV EX to the RAV4 “L” with the larger 16” wheels like we got.

Unfortunately, the wife insisted on AUTO after driving stick cars for the last 15 years.
I kind of agree for a vehicle like this.

 

No doubt on the auto for that car, i agree too. But as for how they both felt, i just liked the CRV more. Had a sportier feel.handling to me, you can seriously pull that car through some corners, very agile. I slo prefer the looks of the crv. Ive also spent way more time behind teh wheels of crvs then rav4s, so there is that factor.

Toyota to me felt like a solid little suv, good to drive, but kinda bland.

But to each their own. I was also biased seeing i was selling the new crvs at the time My tastes and ideals towards those kinds of cars have changed in the last couple years, so id really ahve to drive them again.

 

Comparing the RAV4 to the CR-V, I thought the RAV4 did drive better too -- as said, more car-like as compared to more mini-van like. IIRC, the RAV4 was the most underpowered (the least powered?) in the class. That being said, acceleration to freeway speed wasn't slow enough to be a issue to worry about -- there are slower vehicles on the road.

The drive of the Subaru Forester was much better then either. Much more car like and a lot more deft in cornering (and easily made better once the OEM soft walled tires are swapped out). Power comparisons are not even worth discussing -- the stock XT is faster then 99% of the CLs on this board.

I don't recall the details of the RAV4 AWD system, but IIRC, it was full time. One thing I wasn't crazy about in the Honda CR-V was that the rear differential didn't drive the wheels until slip was detected -- basically it's a FWD car until there's front wheel slip. No one on the Honda CR-V boards said that this was an issue to be concerened about, but it did concern me.

Subaru's AWD system is really always on, but is also dynamic and changes with conditions. Once the car gets to freeway speed it operates as FWD thereby reducing drivetrain resistance. The rear axle also has a LSD which is a nice addition.

One of the reasons for our mini-SUV purchase was to have a car that had a good record in foul weather. I was more confident in Subaru AWD over Honda's. Our Forester has yet to be stuck or really even slip in snowy conditions. We have a small hill near us with about a 25 degree upslope. In 4" of snow, I took the Forester 1/2 way up it and stopped, then re-started my way up. No wheel slip whatsoever. I know, not the best foul weather test, but the worst condition it's so far seen.

YMMV, IMHO...

 

I'd go with the Pathfinder.