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If you want to see where the car industry in North America is heading these days, look no further than the compact SUV/crossover market.

At this year's AJAC TestFest, there were nine separate entries in the under-$35,000 SUV/CUV category — the largest group of the competition.

Manufacturers have been putting out a steady stream of affordable, bite-sized sport-utility vehicles over the past year, and this year, they ran the gamut from four-cylinder econo-utes to V-6 propelled mid-size utilities. There was even a mainstream hybrid vehicle from GM in the mix.

It was also interesting to note that, in some cases, 4WD was not part of the equation.

More and more, it seems, conventional front-wheel drive is enough to satisfy buyers in this market, and the Ford Edge and Saturn Vue were entered with 2WD drive train setups. Apparently, compact SUVs are becoming the contemporary version of the traditional station wagon.

There is also an impressively wide range of choices in this market. For example, Jeep had two models at this year's event: the Compass and Wrangler four-door. Although they come from the same manufacturer, these two couldn't be further apart.

Where the Compass is a low-cost, no-frills, entry-level crossover utility vehicle with an eye on thrift and getting buyers into this market, the Wrangler is a rough-and-ready boulder-hopper that begs to be driven hard, with one of the most capable 4WD systems in the industry.

In all honesty, although it had the lowest sticker price ($26,135) of the entire group, the Compass left me cold, but the Wrangler is something I'd like to see parked in my driveway, or better yet, taken up the nearest mountain.

The Wrangler four-door also highlighted the disparities in the TestFest categorization process. Really, it should be up against the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Both are aimed at serious off-roaders and place function over comfort and convenience, which is rarely the case in the majority of SUVs. Still, nothing's perfect and the FJ was priced at almost $9000 more.

On the other end of the spectrum, Honda's new, revised CR-V continues to impress with its sheer drivability and refinement. Honda has essentially perfected the art of manufacturing a practical, user-friendly sport-ute that has an accessible price tag, civilized driving manners and above-average fuel consumption.

At 10.7 litres/100 km in town and 7.8 on the highway, it has one of the best fuel economy ratings in the entire group — although not the best. That title is held by the Saturn Vue Green Line, which delivers an impressive 8.8 L/100 km city and 6.7 highway, making it the thriftiest SUV in the industry, period, regardless of size.

The Vue is a hybrid vehicle, after all, utilizing the same basic drive train setup as GM's hybrid Sierra and Silverado pickup trucks. Although not a “pure” hybrid vehicle in that it never actually runs on just battery power alone, the Vue Green Line is as driver-friendly as anything else in this group, and its hybrid setup is unobtrusive and subtle, while still making the Vue one of the livelier CUVs on the market.

A pleasant surprise for me was Ford's new Edge, which featured one of the quietest and most agreeable drive trains in this year's crop of entries.

With a 265-horsepower V6 engine, six-speed automatic transmission and an impressive list of standard equipment, the Edge is on the upscale end of this group and represented one of the better buys in the under-$35,000 market. It was not the cheapest model there, but it certainly was one of the quickest, best-dressed, and most amenable. If it had come with AWD, it might have gotten the nod from me.

But I have to go with the Hyundai Santa Fe. With an as-tested price of $34,295, the GLS version was absolutely chock-a-block with standard equipment — heated front seats, leather interior, power sunroof, all the usual convenience features such as air conditioning, power windows, power door locks, tilt/telescoping steer, and so on, and functional “must-haves” like four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, traction control, on-demand all-wheel-drive, limited-slip differential, five-speed transmission with manual shift mode, and vehicle stability control system.

It also has one of the highest interior volumes in this market (3,066 litres in total, with the back seats folded), one of the most powerful engines and the most airbags. In terms of getting maximum bang for the buck, nothing else in this group quite matches it.

But there's more to it than that. A high level of standard equipment doesn't mean much if the vehicle itself isn't up to snuff.

The Santa Fe just felt good to me. It was easy to get in and out of, comfortable behind the wheel and has good ergonomics. The same can be said of the Edge, CR-V and RAV-4, as far as that goes, but the Honda only comes with a four-cylinder engine, and the RAV-4, well, it has greater interior volume and better fuel consumption, but also has a higher price tag.

It's interesting to note that the Santa Fe's closest competitor is the RAV-4, which says volumes about how this Korean company has progressed over the years.